The exclusive car of the Us president of the United States Air Force One, it is six stories high, it can also withstand nuclear explosions, and the operating cost of each aircraft is more than 200,000 US dollars, it is the world's most famous means of transportation, transporting the US president to all parts of the world is not an easy task, Air Force One must be installed with intrusive security systems and top missile defense systems, and the use of high-end military technology, no wonder the US media called it "Flying White House", let's see what it looks like inside, Before we enter the three-deck cabin and check the special features scattered across the aircraft.
Let's start with the plane itself, what exactly is Air Force One, it's not the shoes you wear on your feet, it's an airplane, the blue and white combination on the plane is quite striking, it's a custom Boeing plane, also known as the Boeing 747 aircraft, although President Roosevelt became the first U.S. president to fly an airplane as early as 1910, but it wasn't until the appearance of President Eisenhower in 1953 that the word Air Force One was initially born.
In 1962, Kennedy became the first person to fly in an airplane built specifically for the president's use, a modified Boeing 747, and aircraft designer Raymond Lody chose the famous baby blue as the main color. It's Jack Kennedy's favorite color, and it matches the color in the president's sea, and since then, the pair of outstanding wings have shipped from Obama to Nixon, Reagan, Trump, and currently have two Boeing 747s in the world, and Trump reportedly reached an informal agreement with Boeing to limit the price of the two "New Air Force One" to $3.9 billion, however, according to the first official report of the Department of Defense, this cost is much higher, and the Pentagon will need to pay $5.2 billion for the updated pair of aircraft, Overall, the two aircraft are of the same structure as the regular commercial Boeing 747, each with four engines, each providing 56,700 pounds of thrust, a top speed of nearly 700 miles per hour, 10 percent worse than the speed of sound, and being able to fly not only faster but also farther, a fuel tank fully loaded with 53,611 gallons that can fly half around the earth, and Air Force One's cruising altitude at 45,000 feet instead of 30,000 feet.
In fact, Air Force One is not technically an airplane, if the president is tied to an F22 Raptor during the flight, that Raptor is the new Air Force One, if he is sitting on an amphibious stealth bomber, then this is also the new Air Force One, is this metaphor meaningful? The name is just a sign, known to all crew members and all air traffic controllers, in order to avoid confusion with any other aircraft, so that the safety of the president's aircraft can be prioritized at all times, if the president is on an Army aircraft, it is called Army One, and the Navy aircraft is called Navy One, and this name system was first used in the Eisenhower era, when the president was on the plane with the same call sign as the commercial flights of Eastern Airlines.
Confusingly, they are all flying in the same airspace, which immediately prompts the need for a new and improved system, like the ordinary Boeing 747, the most common presidential transport aircraft is equipped with three separate levels, but as you will see soon, a jet is not in any way, shape or form like the Commercial 740 SEVEN, when we look at the aircraft structure from bottom to top, the lowest layer is usually as cargo space, the middle layer is the main passenger area, and the upper layer is dedicated to complex communication equipment, Cargo space and equipment storage are important.
Without a doubt, the largest space is the passenger area, the living area on the plane includes, the president's own bedroom, bathroom, fitness room and office, most of the furniture is handmade by the master carpenter, suitable for the special taste of the president, there is also a large conference room on the middle floor where senior staff have their own specialized work, traveling journalists are also assigned to their own space, this huge aircraft can comfortably accommodate 70 passengers and 26 crew members, although we have a certain understanding of the layout of the aircraft, But even visiting politicians and senior journalists were barred from certain parts of the plane, meaning that outsiders had only some basic knowledge of the plane's interior, and no one except the president and his staff knew how the parts fit together.
On the plane, the crew provides 24 hours of first-class service, the full-time chef prepares any food for the president, including unique dishes or some good old-fashioned fast food, if we don't believe us, we can go and see for ourselves, past meals include chicken from KFC to Caesar's bag of steaks, all in all what the president wants to eat, professional chefs can make it, the ingredients equipped on the plane can feed about 100 people at a time, can accommodate up to 2000 me, unlike the preparation process of ordinary aviation meals, When buying presidential ingredients, White House staff need to randomly select markets and never buy them twice in one place, all to protect the president from threats.
However, if something really terrible goes wrong, at an altitude of 45,000 feet, Air Force One is equipped with all the necessary medical equipment, a specialized medical room with a folding operating table in case emergency surgery is needed, and an extensive pharmacy, oxygen machine and other equipment, if no one knows how to use these devices correctly, then what is the use of having these devices, there is a doctor who has worked with the president for a long time, and wherever he goes, there is the president's shadow.
If something really goes wrong, the aircraft is equipped with all sorts of state-of-the-art communications equipment, air force one aircraft installed a $19,000 TV to learn about events happening on the ground, as well as 85 telephones and a series of secure two-way radio stations to serve as backup communications, plus fax machines and ultra-high-speed in-flight WIFI, all of which are in place, and the president can contact anyone in the world with the push of a button, but if he does not call in person, Then the rigorously screened military personnel on board will call him, Air Force One usually has 26 crew members, each of whom must operate with a high level of safety and professionalism, each staff member is selected from the military, must go through extensive background checks, needs to show stories of exemplary service, because this is not ordinary work.
Another fascinating factor of Air Force One is that it does not have to rely on airport facilities, and no contact with airport staff means that there are far fewer security threats, which is also what distinguishes it from traditional aviation, the aircraft has its own retractable staircase, has its own baggage loader, and not only one entrance, but three, in case of emergency, although most aircraft need to stop and show up every few hours, but due to its amazing aerial refueling capabilities, the presidential plane never technically needs to land, in an emergency, This is a crucial strategy, especially when the aircraft route is remote land, under the Freedom of Information Act, the average aircraft airborne is $6337 per hour, but Air Force One's route from New York to Los Angeles will be close to $1 million.
But why is there such a high price, first the need to pay the salaries of 26 crew members, then fuel, four engines burn about 5 gallons of gasoline per mile, which makes the estimated fuel cost of up to 80,000 DOLLARs per hour, do not forget the cargo plane and three accompanying helicopters needed to transport the president's limousine, Air Force One is arguably the safest aircraft, it is stuffed with some of the most advanced avionics and defense systems that can block the enemy's radar and spew out white-hot signal flares, To disperse any incoming heat-seeking missile, if the missile is using infrared tracking, then the use of infrared jammers, but also equipped with armored windows, Air Force One can not only transfer any surface-to-air missiles and repel bullets, but also, thanks to the shell with a special coating, it can also be ready to resist the damage of nuclear bombs to the ground, so that if everything on land is impacted, the president can confidently take refuge in the sky.
If there is a sudden emergency, or more simply, if the president just wants to go on vacation to Hawaii, there is far more planning and logistics behind the scenes than most people realize, and the professional Air Force personnel of the Andrews Air Force in Maryland, who will carefully inspect the aircraft before any flight, once licensed, marine one helicopter will transfer the president from the White House to the air base, while the troops pay close attention to any unauthorized aircraft threats, they are authorized to shoot before the presidential bomber takes off, by doing so, The Air Force ensures that the president's ground vehicle will be ready and available when he arrives, and the cost of $200,000 an hour is indeed too expensive, which is arguably the safest means of transportation in the United States, not one of them.