Just saw a pic of the Presidential Boeing 747 - more popularly known as Air Force One. Just wondering why the USAF would continue maintaining and flying such an old aircraft (it's a B747-200 that still has a flight engineer) when a new 747-8i would provide them with considerable savings in both cost and time spent in maintenance. It's not like the US government couldn't afford a couple of new jets to transport the President around in.

First post. The Air Force is, as far as I know, looking into replacing the current VC-25s with a new 747-8 or a 787.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_force_oneThe answers you seek lie within.RegardsCraig Baillie

Matthew,Word is that the bidding is open for the replacement for the VC-25 (that's the military designation for the aircraft that becomes Air Force One when the President is onboard), and that Boeing has the inside track with the 747-8. The two VC-25As currently used to transport the President entered service in 1990, so they're not that old. They don't undergo a "standard" maintenance scheme, anyway...and they've also got some modifications that make them pretty unique. They're BASED ON the 747-200, but they're much more. I saw a documentary about them a while ago, and they definitely have a lot of avionics upgrades over the -200, plus a lot of defensive and communications systems that make them pretty expensive to replace.

Just saw a pic of the Presidential Boeing 747 - more popularly known as Air Force One. Just wondering why the USAF would continue maintaining and flying such an old aircraft (it's a B747-200 that still has a flight engineer) when a new 747-8i would provide them with considerable savings in both cost and time spent in maintenance. It's not like the US government couldn't afford a couple of new jets to transport the President around in.

There is a great National Geographic documentary on Air Force One as well. If you do a search you can probably watch it on-line.

I coudln't imagine a 787. A twinjet? As reliable as they are, a 747 is hard to shoot down in comparison. The 747 came in 1990 to the USAF, after they were ordered in 1985. I don't know why a -200, in 1985 the -300 was already selling and by 1990, the 747-400 was selling...

It's not really true that the current one is "old" at least in terms of the cockpit stuff - it doesn't have a 742 cockpit, they modernized it with glass, FMC etc...Large twins have proven to be supremely reliable - there's several heads of state using A330s, 777s etc. I don't think "shoot downs" are the concern there with the 4-engines - if someone gets in range to fire missiles at Air Force 1 there's already a way bigger problem than the number of engines the plane has.

Gents-The Lovely Dr. Randazzo being of the magnificent US Secret Service does not condone any discussion that involves even hypothetical attacks against the President of United States...This thread is now closed....Black helicopter's over Ryan's house... this should be entertaining...