Are any B-742's RNP capable? I remember years ago an AWACS driver said there was state of the art navigation back in the cabin but only dials and needles in the cockpit.
Commerce Secretary Ron Brown's crash at Dubrovnik in 1996 revealed how primitive Air Force VIP transport instrumentation was back then. They were trying to shoot an NDB approach with two beacons and only one ADF receiver installed.
As a post-accident review observed:
The plane that carried Mr. Brown to his death could not have flown commercially in the United States because it would not have met civilian safety standards. The Air force has resisted meeting those standards. So the planes that fly Cabinet secretaries, lawmakers and the President's family to far-flung airports lack safety innovations pioneered by civilian manufacturers and the military itself. Dubrovnik's poorly equipped airport may be typical of the third world, but in many ways so was the 22-year-old plane.
The pilots were navigating with a compass and a radio receiver. Air Force generals called that equipment "primitive" and "rudimentary." A member of the unit that flies V.I.P.'s compared it to working with a typewriter in the computer age. The pilots of IFOR 21 had limited experience with the outmoded navigational system used to guide planes to the Dubrovnik airport.
DEADLY FLIGHT -- A special report.;In Crash That Killed Brown, Signs of Safety Shortcomings - The New York Times
SAM 28000 and sister ship 29000 are getting a little long in the tooth but even if the order is finalized today it will be years before a replacement arrives.
I found it interesting that there was a ramp freeze for former President Obama. Is this still normal once a President leaves office?