"We have to support him as our Commander-in-Chief, also as our Chief Diplomat, and also our Chief Executive. "As I look at the requirements, there are three things that we have to support the president with," Everhart says. Everhart, who is responsible for shuttling the president, told Popular Mechanics the 747-8 is essentially set in stone "just by default." For one thing, Boeing is the only American plane manufacturer building large four-engine airliners.
The Air Force is researching ways to make development of Air Force One cheaper, but General Everhart says that moving away from the 747-8 is almost certainly not going to happen. SAM 28000, one of the two VC-25s used as Air Force One, flying over Mount Rushmore in February 2001. The Air Force understands this, and they have been gearing up for the project, working with Boeing far in advance to select the specific airframes to buy and test. The job is so extensive that the current administration is unlikely to ever get a chance to fly in the new airplanes.
After all, it's not easy to outfit one of the largest planes in the world for the President of the United States. In January 2015, the Air Force announced that new Boeing 747-8s would replace the VC-25s, and the long and complicated work to select and modify two of Boeing's largest 747 models began. The VC-25s that do the job today entered service during George H.W. Alternate AF1?Īir Force One is not a specific plane, but the call sign for any USAF aircraft with a sitting U.S. "It's not as efficient as a newer aircraft would be." Everhart recently talked with Popular Mechanics about the future of Air Force One, why the next AF1 will be a 747, and how you go about turning an ordinary airframe into a plane fit for the president. Everhart, commander of Air Mobility Command, said of continuing to fly the VC-25s. "It's going to cost me money in the long run," General Carlton D. It's time to start working on the replacement jets for Air Force One. Although these two modified Boeing 747-200Bs, known as VC-25s, are a couple of the most technologically advanced aircraft in the world, with encrypted communications and electromagnetic pulse defenses, they are aging. The two jumbo jets designated specifically for presidential transport have now been in service for more than a quarter century.
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