747-8 chosen to replace air force 1

[drichard]

Reuters are reporting the decision to replace AF1 with 747-8

Air Force picks Boeing 747-8 to replace Air Force One: sources (http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0L12FP20150128?irpc=932)

[fantom]

Would you expect them to choose a magnificent Airbus?

[captplaystation]

Can't beat 4 engines ! :ok:


Good to see Obama maintaining some sort of standards in his shift.

[TOWTEAMBASE]

I thought the -8 was a donkey ? Mind you, won't be run of the mill will it. I know QR have bought 3 BBJ versions too, some private toy THAT will be

[Stuff]

Bloomberg: "The first new Air Force One isn’t expected to be delivered until 2018, when it will be tested before entering service in fiscal 2023."

5 years of testing? Seems a little excessive considering it only has a planned 30 year lifespan.

[Prada]

I think there was a requirement, that AF-1 planes should be physically assembled on US soil. That was one of reasons why Airbus did not participate with its A380 in bidding.

[Jet Jockey A4]

I believe the extensive testing is because of the sophisticated electronic gear onboard.

[NigelOnDraft]

Bloomberg: "The first new Air Force One isn’t expected to be delivered until 2018, when it will be tested before entering service in fiscal 2023."

5 years of testing? Seems a little excessive considering it only has a planned 30 year lifespan. Partly because they don't need it until 2023 (or maybe won't pay for it), but the 747-8 is selling badly, so the prod line might close ~2016.

[Una Due Tfc]

I was thinking there probably won't be any 4 engined passenger aircraft in production in 2023 alright....

[Admiral346]

"Airforce1, descending to FL 270 due to icing"

That plane is a joke, a disgrace to modern air travel - and the president of the US of A is going to ride in one.

He probably rides in a Cadillac instead of a BMW, too.

To quote Top Gear: "In Europe the meassurements in autoconstruction are rounded to the nearest millimeter, in the US it's the nearest - foot!"


Good Luck, Mr. President...

[N707ZS]

Do you think if he asked nicely they would give Dave one of the old ones! We must be one of the only country's in the world that hasn't got a decent first jet.

[carlrsymington]

What do the Greeks, Italian & Spanish "topC" politicians get to fly on?

[aterpster]

What a waste of U.S. taxpayer money.

With the present clown-in-chief it spews huge amounts of carbon to take him from Andrews AFB to PHNL on a regular basis. But, none of them, past, present or future, are royalty.

[Turbine D]

Originally posted by Admiral346:
To quote Top Gear: "In Europe the meassurements in autoconstruction are rounded to the nearest millimeter, in the US it's the nearest - foot!"


Err, I seem to remember that the A-380 was delayed for a significant period of time resulting from miscalculation of dimensions, CAD-CAM version screw-up (auto-construction). Lead customers were rather miffed. Do you recall that?:rolleyes:

[jimmynes]

And what makes it OK for royalty to spew huge amounts of carbon ???

[LiveryMan]

That plane is a joke, a disgrace to modern air travel

That's not what Lufthansa have been saying about theirs.

I believe I also read that Cargolux find they are more efficient than promised, even without the engine performance enhancement package.

The icing issue you refer to was an engine issue :ugh::rolleyes:

[Ian Corrigible]

Amusing to see Flight (http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/usaf-chooses-747-8-as-next-air-force-one-408408/) report that the 747-8 "bested the A380," even though it wasn't offered.

By that metric, the 747-8 also 'bested' the Spruce Goose, H.P.42, Cri-Cri and X-37B. :E

I/C

[Evanelpus]

The US government would have gone for a Triple 7 in preference to the A380. In fact, the French could have 'bidded' till they were blue in the face, they would have had as much chance as a snowball in hell!:ugh:

[tdracer]

5 years of testing? Seems a little excessive considering it only has a planned 30 year lifespan. Rollout in 2018, Service introduction 2021.
3 years is consistent with the current 747 Air Force One aircraft - IIRC the first one rolled out in 1986, after normal production flight testing it, was flown to Wichita were it was modified into the VC-25A configuration (executive interior, tons of communication and avionics changes, dual APU installation, Aerial Refueling, etc). Delivered to the USAF late 1989. Second airplane followed a year later.
Presumably the new 747-8 AF1 will be a similar deal - it'll roll out as a pretty much typical 747-8i but without an interior - and they'll fly it to a mod center somewhere for all the upgrades.
It probably won't be Wichita though - Boeing Wichita no longer exists :rolleyes:

[Intruder]

Could still be Wichita... Spirit, which Boeing spun off several years ago, is still in business, likely with many of the same ex-Boeing workers.

[tdracer]

Intruder, the AF1 work wasn't done by what is now Spirit - it was done by the military division. The military Boeing Wichita was recently closed and the work moved to other locations.

Lots of upset people in Wichita when that happened - apparently they had been lead to believe the 767-2C to KC-46 conversion work was going to be done there.:sad:

[Una Due Tfc]

Assume there'll be a second airframe purchased eventually?

[tdracer]

Assume there'll be a second airframe purchased eventually?
The press reports say "two replacement jets" so the answer would be yes :E

[con-pilot]

"Airforce1, descending to FL 270 due to icing"


If you are referring to the engine icing issue, there is a fix for that. It basically modifies the engine software to open the variable bleed valves to eject ice crystals. With that software change the limitation is much less onerous. Basically only applicable above 37,500 feet in areas of large mesoscale convective systems, typically found in the tropics. They are just waiting for further validation of the software change before full removal of the limitation.

Besides that, the 747-800 can use airports that the A-380 cannot.