Air Force One is one of the most recognizable aircraft in the world, but much of what happens aboard the president\u2019s plane remains out of public view.<\/p>\n
Former crew members offered a rare look behind the curtain during an event at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, sharing stories about life aboard the aircraft and the extraordinary missions that put its crews to the test.<\/p>\n
The conversation featured retired Col. Mark Tillman, who served as President George W. Bush\u2019s pilot and commander of Air Force One; Reginald \u201cReggie\u201d Dickson, a former chief flight attendant who spent 19 years serving aboard Air Force One; and retired Chief Master Sgt. Rick Holley, a former communications systems operator who served during the Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations.<\/p>\n
Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer moderated the conversation.<\/p>\n
What is it really like aboard Air Force One?<\/p>\n
First, they cleared up at least one Hollywood myth: No, Air Force One does not have an emergency escape pod like the one depicted in the 1997 Harrison Ford movie.<\/p>\n
The real aircraft is designed less as a luxury jet and more as a working White House in the sky.<\/p>\n
Dickson described it as a \u201cfunctional aircraft versus luxury,\u201d designed so the president and staff can continue working while traveling.<\/p>\n
The former crew members said Air Force One has 69 seats, plus accommodations for the First Family, compared with more than 400 seats on a standard 747. Holley recalled 100 regular telephones and another 40 secure phones aboard during his time with the crew.<\/p>\n
The president also has accommodations not available to everyone else. The crew said the aircraft includes two beds for the president and a private shower.<\/p>\n
Fleischer, who traveled aboard Air Force One as White House press secretary, joked that staff members sometimes had better seats on commercial flights in business class.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we had better communications and food,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Behind those lighter details was a mission the crew described as having no room for failure: protecting the president and allowing the commander in chief to continue leading the country under virtually any circumstances.<\/p>\n
Air Force One on Sept. 11, 2001<\/p>\n
Few days demonstrated that responsibility more clearly than Sept. 11, 2001.<\/p>\n
Tillman was the pilot and commander of Air Force One that day. He recalled sitting with the aircraft in Sarasota, Florida, while President Bush visited an elementary school.<\/p>\n
Tillman said the crew initially watched television coverage of the first plane striking the World Trade Center and believed they were seeing an aircraft accident. When the second plane hit, that changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything has changed at this point,\u201d Tillman recalled. \u201cNow it\u2019s a national emergency.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Air Force One prepared to leave Sarasota with Bush aboard, Tillman said Secret Service agents reported someone near the end of the runway who appeared to be holding a long gun. Tillman said he used a steeper-than-normal takeoff to quickly get the aircraft above the possible threat.<\/p>\n
The crew later learned the man was there with his children and what had appeared to be a weapon was actually a video camera.<\/p>\n
It was one example of the false or incomplete information reaching the president and his team amid the uncertainty that morning.<\/p>\n
Later, Tillman said word reached the aircraft that \u201cAngel\u201d \u2014 the Secret Service call sign for Air Force One \u2014 could itself be a target.<\/p>\n
As Air Force One flew over the Gulf of Mexico, Tillman recalled air traffic controllers warning the crew that unidentified fast-moving aircraft were approaching.<\/p>\n
They turned out to be U.S. fighter jets from Ellington Field in Texas.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re at your 7 o\u2019clock, and we\u2019re your cover,\u201d Tillman recalled hearing over the radio.<\/p>\n
The fighters remained with Air Force One as the president\u2019s team worked to determine where he could safely go.<\/p>\n
The aircraft eventually landed at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, where Bush addressed the country, before traveling to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. By the end of the day, the president returned to Washington.<\/p>\n
A secret Thanksgiving mission to Baghdad<\/p>\n
Two years later, the Air Force One crew was tasked with another extraordinary mission \u2014 this time one that depended on secrecy.<\/p>\n
In November 2003, President Bush secretly traveled to Baghdad to spend Thanksgiving with U.S. troops serving in Iraq.<\/p>\n
Dickson said the secrecy extended even to much of the Air Force One crew.<\/p>\n
Normally, he said, about 10 flight attendants would help prepare meal service aboard the aircraft. For this mission, Dickson recalled handling preparations largely by himself while trying to keep other crew members from discovering what was happening.<\/p>\n
That led to one particularly Texas detail.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the meantime, I\u2019m running out to Bush\u2019s Chicken in Texas, buying food to get to Andrews to put out an airplane prior to my crew coming out,\u201d Dickson recalled.<\/p>\n
Once the crew was aboard, members were finally briefed on the mission and given an opportunity to decline to go. Dickson said there were no takers.<\/p>\n
Tillman remembered Bush giving him a characteristically straightforward description of the assignment.<\/p>\n
\u201cTillman, it\u2019s a simple mission,\u201d he recalled the president telling him. \u201cI\u2019m going to Baghdad for dinner, and then I\u2019m coming back to the United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n
The secrecy continued all the way to Iraq.<\/p>\n
Tillman said personnel preparing for the aircraft\u2019s arrival were told a USO flight was coming in carrying the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders \u2014 not the President of the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo they were very disappointed to see President Bush,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n
The people behind Air Force One<\/p>\n
The Bush Center event coincided with a reunion in Dallas for members of the Presidential Airlift Group. More than 80 former crew members and maintenance personnel were in the audience.<\/p>\n
For Dickson, seeing so many of them together again was a reminder that the mission created relationships that lasted long after their time aboard Air Force One ended.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have lifetime friends that I will always have,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Despite serving different presidents, administrations, and roles, former crew members described a shared standard of professionalism and responsibility that has been passed down across generations of those entrusted with presidential airlift.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Air Force One is one of the most recognizable aircraft in the world, but much of what happens…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434046,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[71462,102,104,103,2672,13066],"class_list":["post-434045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-bush-center","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-military","tag-u-s-government"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}