ABC News is reporting the Secret Service urged President Donald Trump to fly to England from Turkey in one of the VC-25A aircraft that were replaced by a Boeing 747-8 gifted to the Air Force by the Qatari royal family because the old planes have security systems that better matched the threat posed by this flight. As the familiar powder blue aircraft headed for the U.K. passengers were told to close the window shades and Trump, after denying to reporters that security was behind the plane switch, said the window shade order was given because they were on “a dangerous flight.” ABC also reported that there was no specific threat but the Secret Service asked for the plane swap out of an abundance of caution in light of the resumption of hostilities in Iran.
There are always two aircraft ready to assume the role of Air Force One, but it’s not clear if the old plane, based on a 30-year-old 747-200, made the trip to Turkey with Trump or had to be called in to substitute. In announcing the switch on social media, Trump said it was going on a tour of American bases in Europe to allow troops to have a look at it. He met up with it at RAF Mildenhall in the U.K. for the rest of the trip to Washington. It landed at Joint Base Andrews just after 1 a.m. local time on Thursday. Mildenhall is a common fuel stop for Air Force One-designated aircraft. The swap has raised questions about the security of the new plane, but the administration has repeatedly said the newer aircraft is up to the task. Details of the security systems installed on the plane by L3Harris are classified.
Does anyone trust the secret service anymore? If I was Trump, I’d hire my own security force.
Yep, that’s just what we need: a President with his own private army. What could possibly go wrong? The Secret Service has a long and proud tradition of apolitically protecting the President. Which includes telling him, for his own good, that he can’t do something he might want to do. But they’ve never had to protect an emotional infant.
Yes, they did such a great job in Butler, PA…
And if you think a private security service is a private army, you understand neither executive security nor the military.
Worldwide, I think you’ll find quite a few examples of a soi-disant “security service” and a “private army” to be indistinguishable. This particular chief executive has reveled in expanding the perks and powers of his office.
I am not sure, but there may now be treatment programs for TDS.
There is: term limits.
I don’t know what office you hold, so I don’t know if your term limit comes soon enough to help you.
Sometimes older is better. Lufthansa I’m told, is bringing back some old 747’s. Newer 787’s? Not so much. But then again, the Boeing plant lost the older reliable workers to political correctness and leftist thinking in recent years too. The old adage, “If it ain’t Boeing, I ain’t going,” has been replaced with, “we’ll get you in the air, but we’ll give you a scare.”
Does this surprise anyone? Of course they couldn’t get the new flying palace up to all the necessary standards in the rush job that was forced on them. SMH.
Read this morning that Iran is reported to have a hit out on the Pres, apparently a more creditable one that the usual threat.
I have a hard time wondering what changed between the POTUS flying out in Air Force Deuce, and the decision that only a full-up capable aircraft would be acceptable to fly him back. The only thing I can think of is a credible threat aimed *specifically* at the drawbacks of the new aircraft. Which, you’d think, are now going to be telegraphed to all the anti-US forces around the world. Is Air Force Deuce now going to be limited to CONUS flights?
As for the morality…well, this administration claims the right to assassinate or kidnap foreign leaders without warning. Can’t be surprised if the “beneficiaries” of such policies try to return the favor.
Had a secret service agent that was up in the control tower once when the Pres was at the airport tell me that if someone wnat’s to kill the Pres bad enough and doesn’t mind getting killed themselves, the SS really can’t stop them.
With drones, the self-preservation aspect doesn’t matter. Look at what Ukraine has been doing…secretly packing drones into buildings and vans a thousand miles from their border and unleashing them en masse at a nearby target. Imagine, if you will, if that target was a large airliner on approach to an airport in accordance with a published itinerary….
POTUS is the highest-value target aloft; I’m not surprised that the Secret Service is not too fond of using an aircraft that doesn’t have all the latest defensive bells and whistles.
There are similar risks with ground vehicles, of course, but the SS gets around that with a sort of “shell game”…multiple limousines, with the one the POTUS is actually in kept secret. May end up trying something similar with aircraft, but with only two and a half planes available, there’s no reason the bad guys couldn’t just up the number of drones.
We may have seen the last non-domestic flight of Air Force Deuce.
“Keep it about flying and airplanes.” Remember that reprimand you gave me barely a week ago, Russ?
A billion dollars spent to convert a “free” airplane that can’t do the job it was needed for, and is planned to be decommissioned in two years. Where’s DOGE when you need them?
‘ Remember that reprimand you gave me barely a week ago, Russ?’
Good grief. I’ll wingwalk out without a tether and dare to say he’s moved on from your ‘reprimand’…
Here you had a chance to comment on ‘flying and airplanes’ with this story yet chose to show the world you are still applying butt-hurt cream in volume.
The comment section is still open…prove something, disprove something, retort without bias, retort with bias…enjoy the process!
“Butt-hurt” is so ten years ago, but hypocrisy is timeless.