Originally Posted by
forgot to bid
why why why why why, and this has been this way ever since i started flying, does Air Force One go into civilian airports and not military airports???
The end of my trip is going to get goofed up tomorrow.
I will say this though, Air Force One, or Sam I Am or whatever they called it, used to do touch and goes at PHF 20 years ago when I was learning to fly. That was cool. I missed every time the 747 came in but I saw everyone else pictures. I did see the old Air Force One 707 do low approaches. My dad says he still sees AF1 from time to time.
They want their adoring fans to be able to welcome them at the civilian airports. When Clinton was elected Little Rock AFB spent some nice coin on getting their Base Ops up to snuff with a VIP room in anticipation of his coming through there a lot. I don't think he ever saw it--always came into LIT where the helicopters would take him away to other parts of the state. All the support came out from the base up north...cops, airstairs, etc. Maybe because of a fear of fuel contamination, but they would even drive the fuel trucks out from the AFB for Air Force One instead of taking fuel from LIT. Basically, a major PITA when he could have just landed at LRF.