With the current pair of Boeing 747s known as Air Force One now passing three decades in service, their replacements are already undergoing the extensive modification needed for them to assume the role of the airborne transport for the President of the United States. To document the process National Geographic has produced a film that will debut on the Nat Geo Channel on Monday, February 15th, and AIN was able to review an advance copy of the program.
Titled The New Air Force One: Flying Fortress, the hour-long program details the evolution and some of the history of the aircraft that have carried the call sign Air Force One, and weaves this narrative around an actual mission flown by the former administration. As the narrator repeatedly informs the audience, National Geographic’s camera crews were given unprecedented access aboard the aircraft and were able to interview the crew and staff assigned to it as they describe their jobs and the limitations they face operating and maintaining the 30-year-old jets. A crew chief explains how vital parts needed to maintain the two aircraft in "like-new” condition are becoming difficult to obtain as some vendors are no longer supporting the 747-200 fleet, of which few remain in service.
From the front office, with its analog instruments, to the cramped galleys and medical bay, which was never designed to accommodate today’s diagnostic and therapeutic equipment, all those assigned to work on the airplane express their excitement about the promised improvements.
The legacy 747s, (or VC-25As, as they are known under their official Air Force designation) were first used by President George H.W. Bush in 1990, and video is shown of his first tour of the aircraft, astounded by the size and then-capabilities of it. After his death In 2018, that same aircraft carried his body from Washington, D.C., where he lay in state, to his home state of Texas, where he was interred.
The replacement aircraft, based on the 747-8, the latest and final passenger version of the four-engine jumbo jet, are due to enter service in 2024; but before then, the two aircraft are in the process of a massive remanufacturing that will convert them from standard passenger aircraft into the Flying White House.
At the Boeing Defense Facility in San Antonio, Texas, the effort to modify the two jumbo jets—which were originally white tails stored in the desert after an airline’s deal with the airframer went sour—is being performed in the “Big Texas” hangar, the largest freestanding high bay hangar in the world. Among the work being done is the complete removal of the interiors, including many systems. Thousands of miles of wiring are being replaced by metal-armored cables to shield against electromagnetic interference from a nuclear blast, while military-grade communications, encryption, and defense systems are installed.
To power all the new equipment, the new Air Force One will require the installation of larger, more potent generators, requiring the removal of the four next-generation GE engines, (which despite the narrator stating each consists of more than a million parts, actually contain approximately 10,000). While those engines are 16 percent more efficient than their predecessors, they generate 17 percent more thrust, 39,200 pounds more, according to the film, which will extend the range of the aircraft by 1,000 miles, to 8,800 miles.
The new 747s also have cranked wing tips, which help increase its speed closer to near Mach 1, while improving the airplane’s short-field performance.
At 18 feet longer than its predecessor, the 747-8 is the world’s longest passenger aircraft, and due to its extended upper deck, the new Air Force One will have 5,000 sq ft more room than the current presidential transports. That will allow more space and improved capabilities for areas such as the two galleys, which will allow for the preparation of 2,000 meals from provisions loaded in the U.S., and the medical bay, which will be equipped with state-of-the-art equipment to allow for the highest level of care, including emergency surgery on the president, first family, and those aboard. Even the communications suite will be enlarged to accommodate four operators, rather than the three currently on duty at all times.
The new flight deck will be fully digital and will include the latest military GPS units, an improved instrument landing system enabling it to land regardless of the weather, and defense system controls. The modernizations will allow the on-duty cockpit crew to be halved to just two flight officers.
As a result of the fully-digital cockpit, which will consolidate all of the various system controls including for defense, the on-duty flight deck crew on the next Air Force One will be reduced from four to two. (Image: National Geographic/Renegade Pictures)
One of the major parts of the conversion requires structural modification of the airframe to accommodate large boarding doors and attached airstairs forward and aft. As the program describes, before any cutting into the airframe could take place, the entire aircraft (all 350,000 pounds of it—without the engines and interior) had to be supported by a specially-built hydraulic cradle, which precisely measured and relieved strain, to prevent any warping or twisting. Additionally, dozens of holes were cut in the aircraft skin to accommodate the installation of any top-secret defense and advanced communications systems.
Those enhanced communications systems will allow the chief executive to address the nation from the airborne Oval Office, an ability that wasn’t available on 9/11, former President George W. Bush recounted to the National Geographic team.
The cost of the VC-25B program is expected to total $5.3 billion, including two years' worth of flight testing prior to achieving operational status.
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