Air Force 1 at Paya Lebar

[boing]

Well I did manage to catch a glimpse, but so much that I can only say that yes I did see it. Not very clear and police presence was clear being PLA and S 28000 or S29000 but yes I did see it, may upload photos soon, not that they are any good because of the police

Would love to see those photos !

[SQflyergirl]

SAM = Special Air Mission. And yeah, those are VC-25A's , not 747's

Of course, there's Marine One, and the rarer
Navy One (one ever used once when GWB landed on CVN-72 in an S-3 Viking)
Coast Guard One (never used)
Army One (not used lately)
and Executive One (Richard Nixon till now has been the only sitting president to fly commercially - although I believe the plane did not carry the callsign Executive one)

Optionally, they append a Foxtrot at the end of the callsign if a family member is travelling but not the President/Vice president.

[icn.sg]

What happens when the first wife and first kids need to travel without the president? Do they fly commercial airliners, or do they have the freedom to fly on the VC-25As anytime they want?

[flyguy]

the "Mrs President and kids" are unlikely to be able to fly on the VC-25s on their own - as there are few other executive jets avail like the 757 that usually Mrs Clinton and other very senior Congressional members take - besides they have 737 and the older DC-9s as under painted under "United States of America" on its upper fuselage.

[flyguy]

The 4 Boeing 757s delivered to the USAF are designated as the C-32A

[greg99]

The actual callsigns are SAM 28000 and SAM 29000.

Not when the President or Vice President are on board. Then, the actual callsigns are "Air Force One" or "Air Force Two." I.e., when ATC talks to them, they use "Air Force One/Two" as appropriate.

The aircraft "reg" are 28000/29000, and when the Pres/VP are not on board, then their callsigns are SAM 28000/29000. There are lots of other Air Force aircraft that they use, including 757's and Gulfstreams, all of which become Air Force One/Two when they are on board.

There is a famous moment related to this when Former President Richard Nixon resigned as President and VP Gerald Ford became President. Nixon was in the air flying home to California when Ford was sworn in, and at that moment somewhere over Missouri, the pilot radioed to ATC "Air Force One is now SAM 27000" (the prior 707-based AF1).

Greg