When the President isn't on board their callsigns are SAM 28000 and
SAM 29000.
Special Air Mission.
The VC-25A has also been used to transport deceased former presidents. The guest area aft of "the White House" has chairs and tables that can be removed and the casket laid in their place.[5] The remains of both Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford were transported by SAM 28000 and 29000 respectively to Washington for their state funerals, and then on to their final resting places. Colonel Mark Tillman, pilot for President George W. Bush, said, "We'll take care of the president from basically when he's in office to when he lays [sic] in state."[5] For the funeral of President Ronald Reagan in 2004, Tillman said that the crew converted the front of the aircraft to look the way it would have appeared when Reagan was president; President and Nancy Reagan's Air Force One jackets were placed on the chairs to "make them feel at home".[5] A specially designed hydraulic lifter (similar to the type used by airline catering) with the presidential seal affixed to the sides lifts the casket up to the portside aft door to enter the VC-25A. The tradition of placing the caskets in the passenger cabin dates back to the assassination of John F. Kennedy, when the crew did not want the president's body placed in the cargo hold,[10] and again during the state funeral of Lyndon B. Johnson.[11]