Qatari 747-8I as 'Bridge' VC-25B replacement

NCQ said:
Most likely they're doing it because the President personally finds the coverage embarrassing and wants it stopped.
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I'd have sworn I saw somewhere it'd be given to the USAF but if it's what it's look like I hope he changes his mind because it doesn't look good. (Though, all things considered, it's being blown way out of proportion.)
 
Moose said:
No, he just overrode the objections.
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If it's just going to "shuttle around Trump's entourage" does it even matter? Can't have it both ways. Either it's a USAF plane, and not a "bribe" or it's not a USAF plane in which case it doesn't matter what color it is. Which is it?
 
alberchico said:
Everything that was reported about this aircraft not being secure and usable when the threat level changes was already open knowledge, so I don't know why they are going down this road.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2075925446563156325
View: https://x.com/sentdefender/status/2075925446563156325
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I saw something on FB suggesting that there was an assassination attempt that was involving stuff on the Qatari bird. And that those journalists had received a briefing saying there'd been a catastrophic event at 30,000ft before Trump even set foot on the bird, which raises the individuals from journalists to co-conspirators.

Though take that with a pretty big grain of salt. I really hope it's just a FB conspiracy theory.
 
GK. Dundas said:
This I suspect will be incredibly expensive and probably not very effective.
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It will be VERY expensive and Very TIME consuming but the result will be worth it. Remember that the purchase cost was very low (nothing).
 
Titus said:
It will be VERY expensive and Very TIME consuming but the result will be worth it. Remember that the purchase cost was very low (nothing).
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Yep all it cost was America's self respect .
It still will not be able to install a variety of systems that literally have to be built into the aircraft as opposed to slapped onto it.
 
GK. Dundas said:
Yep all it cost was America's self respect .
It still will not be able to install a variety of systems that literally have to be built into the aircraft as opposed to slapped onto it.
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You do remember that the actual VC-25Bs were completely assembled airframes, right?

What exactly has to be built into the aircraft?
 
You're only supposed to talk politics in the bar and few other places but generally speaking not in the rest 9f the forum.
I know , I know and in fact I have had a couple of posting deleted on this very topic .
But the thing is that this topic itself is extremely political it's difficult to separate that .
The whole " gift from Qatar" thing and everything that developed from that is just plain weird .
 
Scott Kenny said:
I saw something on FB suggesting that there was an assassination attempt that was involving stuff on the Qatari bird. And that those journalists had received a briefing saying there'd been a catastrophic event at 30,000ft before Trump even set foot on the bird, which raises the individuals from journalists to co-conspirators.

Though take that with a pretty big grain of salt. I really hope it's just a FB conspiracy theory.
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Quick update, those journos really were just the target of clumsy legal retaliation for pushing a story the White House found embarrassing: https://apnews.com/article/usmediatimesair-force-one-42429e4d4da8accc42b6c3ddf3f4fed5

Don't trust the social media manipulation machine.
 
JS23 said:
Quick update, those journos really were just the target of clumsy legal retaliation for pushing a story the White House found embarrassing: https://apnews.com/article/usmediatimesair-force-one-42429e4d4da8accc42b6c3ddf3f4fed5

Don't trust the social media manipulation machine.
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Like I said, I hoped it was a stupid FB conspiracy theory. Because it required deliberate fabrication of defective/sabotaged parts for 747-8is with some way to trigger a failure that would lose the entire plane.
 
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A 777 is better plane.
Its up to date, still in production, has extended versions.
If they're worried 2 engines, that's more a potential swap change concept
when they can potentially dual house two GE NX engines.
1788282315232.png
 
spikedpsycho said:
A 777 is better plane.
Its up to date, still in production, has extended versions.
If they're worried 2 engines, that's more a potential swap change concept
when they can potentially dual house two GE NX engines.
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While those are all good points IIRC one of the operational requirements for Airforce One is that it must have four engines but I suspect that a B-52 style dual-engine nacelle would acceptable for survivability reasons (In the event of IR-guided AAM or SAM strike on one of the engines), seperate engine nacelles for four engines would require redesigning the B777's wings.​
 
Scott Kenny said:
I saw something on FB suggesting that there was an assassination attempt that was involving stuff on the Qatari bird. And that those journalists had received a briefing saying there'd been a catastrophic event at 30,000ft before Trump even set foot on the bird, which raises the individuals from journalists to co-conspirators.

Though take that with a pretty big grain of salt. I really hope it's just a FB conspiracy theory.
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That's a crock.
 
I find myself wondering how safe you can make a presidential transport on the ground or on take off or landing in an age of cheap mass drone strikes?

Until recently British PMs and even Monarchs had started using ordinary.BA planes chartered. Perhaps a shell game approach would be an answer?
 
uk 75 said:
I find myself wondering how safe you can make a presidential transport on the ground or on take off or landing in an age of cheap mass drone strikes?
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There's some people at USAF and USSS losing their minds over the issue as we speak.


uk 75 said:
Until recently British PMs and even Monarchs had started using ordinary.BA planes chartered. Perhaps a shell game approach would be an answer?
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That just means they hit everything. Also, BA was government owned for a while, which is a little different from the POTUS flying in on a Southwest plane.
 
Sheinbaum (Mexico) flies commercial, and by commercial, I mean economy not business.

But the shell game was used in Turkey with Trump being flown on a VC-32 while the VC-25B loaded with the rest of the cabinet was used as a decoy...
 
Desertfox said:
Sheinbaum (Mexico) flies commercial, and by commercial, I mean economy not business.
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What happened to their 757? Late 1990s they had a VVIP 757, the company I worked for did a heavy check on it.

Edit: and wouldn't let me take a tour while it was in the shop. :(
 
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Scott Kenny said:
There's some people at USAF and USSS losing their minds over the issue as we speak.



That just means they hit everything. Also, BA was government owned for a while, which is a little different from the POTUS flying in on a Southwest plane.
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British Airways, as it then was, was privatised in 1987.

Back in those days there was the Queen's Flight in the RAF dedicated to transporting members of the Royal Family on shorter trips, latterly using BAe146 aircraft and Wessex helicopters. On longer trips they used a VIP configured VC10 from 10 squadron.

As part of the efforts to modernise the perception of the Royal Family and cut costs for the British taxpayer, things changed from the mid-1990s.

The Queen's Flight was rolled into 32 squadron which was an RAF Communications and VIP transport Squadron. The Royal Family generally travel overseas on commercial flights or charter commercial aircraft.

The RAF operates / has access to a small number of VIP aircraft for the use by Govt ministers and the Royal Family for official business. So

The King's Helicopter Flight - 2 x AW139. For use by the King and senior working
32 (The Royal) squadron - 2 x Envoy IV CC1 (Dassault Falcon 900LX). RAF owned. Civilian registered. Flown by mix of military & civilian pilots.
10 squadron - VIP configured A330 MRTT, part of the RAF fleet operated under the PFI deal.
A321LR on lease and operated by Titan Airways on behalf of the Govt.
 

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