AF1 range/route/refueling?

Turkey Dinner Tour

Now, http://gc.kls2.com/ says the Great Circle distance KADW-BGW
is 6200m, and AF1 has a published range of ~~7300 miles.

But Great Circle would have taken them across multiple countries,
including those evil fried potato folks; so I'd assume they did
not use that route.

I'd also assume they would never get near trouble without large
reserves.

Was there an unannounced refueling stop? I know the 747B's have
capability for in-flight refueling but doubt they would do that.

--
A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

David Lesher wrote in message
...
Turkey Dinner Tour

Now, http://gc.kls2.com/ says the Great Circle distance KADW-BGW
is 6200m, and AF1 has a published range of ~~7300 miles.


I assume that AF1 didn't land anywhere in Europe or there would be
messages from 908 plane spotting dweebs announcing the details. What a
bunch of losers.

--

Scott
--------
Monitor the latest efforts of "peaceful Muslims" at
http://www.jihadwatch.org/

"tscottme" writes:

David Lesher wrote in message
...
Turkey Dinner Tour

Now, http://gc.kls2.com/ says the Great Circle distance KADW-BGW
is 6200m, and AF1 has a published range of ~~7300 miles.


I assume that AF1 didn't land anywhere in Europe or there would be
messages from 908 plane spotting dweebs announcing the details. What a
bunch of losers.

Hence my query. Canary Islands, maybe? Perhaps an airbase but that
would be hard to conceal...


--
A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

"David Lesher" wrote in message
...

Was there an unannounced refueling stop? I know the 747B's have
capability for in-flight refueling but doubt they would do that.

Why would you doubt that?

"David Lesher" wrote in message
...
"tscottme" writes:

David Lesher wrote in message
...
Turkey Dinner Tour

Now, http://gc.kls2.com/ says the Great Circle distance KADW-BGW
is 6200m, and AF1 has a published range of ~~7300 miles.


I assume that AF1 didn't land anywhere in Europe or there would be
messages from 908 plane spotting dweebs announcing the details. What a
bunch of losers.

Hence my query. Canary Islands, maybe? Perhaps an airbase but that
would be hard to conceal...

If I recall, AF1 has inflight refueling capability.

It's only a 15 hour flight via the Med (the long way) from DC, so
I would assume a 747 can do that easily. We used to fly to Saudi,
and only refueled up in Maine so we had enough fuel for alternates
once we got to England. That was in a 707 type, and they needed
about 15k lbs of fuel for weight and balance. Talk about a
squirrely airplane! Get below 15k and that pig was all over the sky...

I used to joke that we might have to have everyone cram forward
to get the nose down (especially Fat-Jake to 300 lb Chief :-)

"Ragnar" writes:



Was there an unannounced refueling stop? I know the 747B's have
capability for in-flight refueling but doubt they would do that.

Why would you doubt that?


A friend was on a KC10 that got refueled twice en-route to Africa.
He vividly described the number of PX's who lost their lunch into
the issued barf bags. The only reason for the refueling was proficiency
practice for the crew.

I doubt the AF1 crew practices that aspect that all that often, and
in fact don't know it's ever been used. I'll let BUFDVR etc comment
but I'd always read it was somewhat risky maneuver on the best days.
--
A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

"David Lesher" wrote

[snip]

but I'd always read it was somewhat risky maneuver on the best days.

It's easier than flying formation. I once had a co-pilot who fell
asleep during the contact. I was kind of half-paying attention to our
position, and just mentioned that we were closing a bit, and nothing
happened, so I looked at him and he was asleep! My fear was that
he would kick the rudder, so I called a break-away (chop the
throttles, speed-brakes, and nose over at about -2 g's all in
one move). That woke everybody up! Hee.

tscottme wrote:

I assume that AF1 didn't land anywhere in Europe or there would be
messages from 908 plane spotting dweebs announcing the details. What a
bunch of losers.

One news report said a British Airways plane saw AF1. The pilot radioed "is
that Air Force 1". AF1 responded "no, we're a Gulf Stream". After a pause
the BA pilot said "Okay".

--
Jim

carry on




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"David Lesher" wrote in message
...
"Ragnar" writes:



Was there an unannounced refueling stop? I know the 747B's have
capability for in-flight refueling but doubt they would do that.

Why would you doubt that?


A friend was on a KC10 that got refueled twice en-route to Africa.
He vividly described the number of PX's who lost their lunch into
the issued barf bags.

One anecdotal example of wussy passengers does not mean air refuelling is
either dangerous or rare.

The only reason for the refueling was proficiency
practice for the crew.

So? The only way to get air refuelling proficiency is to do it.

I doubt the AF1 crew practices that aspect that all that often

Your doubts are based on faulty assumptions.

, and
in fact don't know it's ever been used.

All flight crew on air refuelable aircraft are required to perform A/R
proficiency a set number of times per month, quarter, and year. The B747
used for the President is air refuellable and has a flight crew. Ergo, they
do A/R.

I'll let BUFDVR etc comment
but I'd always read it was somewhat risky maneuver on the best days.

Risky? Flying in and of itself is risky. Perhaps you could do some basic
research and check out how many times A/R has resulted in the loss of an
aircraft. You'll find that taking off and landing in perfect weather is
more dangerous.