The other thing I forgot to mention was that the Captain was a Colonel and the F/O was a lieutenant colonel. I saw a National Geographic Special on Air Force One once and I am sure they said that you had be a general in order to fly Air Force One. Mark ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nick Laflamme" <dplaflamme@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <AIRLINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Friday, April 04, 2003 11:52 AM Subject: Re: You've got to love Hollywood > At 11:36 AM 4/4/2003 -0800, Mark wrote: > >Anyone who caught this week's episode of The West Wing would have seen > >that Hollywood has been up to their old tricks again. > > My personal favorite nit was that they were at the end of an 18-hour flight > when this occurred, I think coming back from Australia or New Zealand. > AFAIK, the President often stops over in Hawaii or the West Coast on such > return trips to avoid excessive jet lag. I'm sure a 747-200 could do an 18 > hour leg without aerial refueling under the right conditions, but why would > they? > > >Later in the show, under the auspices of briefing the press secretary they > >provided some maintenance information about Air Force One. They said that > >every 152 days the aircraft is completely taken apart and put back > >together. I am assuming they were referring to a D-Check. If that is > >true and a D-Check is preformed on Air Force One twice a year, what is the > >standard for airlines? > >How often are they required to peform D-Checks? > > Again AFAIK, maintenance cycles are functions of hours in flight and > possibly take-off/landing cycles, not time on the calendar, at least for > commercial and general aviation. > > The USAF does have two VC-25s (presidential 747s), but I wonder how often > they really "take it apart and put it back together again." That process, > while I'm sure beneficial, is neither quick nor inexpensive. > > One of the plot points was Andrews allegedly shutting down due to a fuel > spill. The VC-25s sometimes use Dulles, especially when fully fueled for a > really long flight (All of IAD's runways are longer than KADW's runways). > They wouldn't circle after an 18 hour flight for a ground closure; they'd > land at Dulles, or BWI, or Langley down in the Tidewater region, or.... But > that would have ruined the plot if someone had thought of that. > > Sigh, > Nick >