You might think that every plane that takes off has to land somehow. However, it seems that Air Force One, known as the plane of the US Presidents, managed to be exempt from this rule. According to the data, the plane took off once more than it landed.
The first thing that comes to mind for such a statistic would be the weather, but let’s say it from the beginning: There was no such event. In fact, this strange data is tied to a presidential protocol quirk and one of the most famous political scandals in US history.
Today, Air Force One, the “President’s office in the sky,” according to the White House, usually refers to one of two private aircraft: a pair of highly customized Boeing 747-200B series aircraft designated by the Air Force as the VC-25A model.
It can be safely said that both of these planes are undoubtedly iconic. The White House says these planes are ‘adorned with the words of the United States, the American flag and the Seal of the President of the United States,’ and claims they are “an absolutely undeniable presence wherever it flies.”
Spanning 372 square meters over three floors, these planes contain their own office, conference room and a medical room that can even function as an operating room if needed. It’s also equipped with state-of-the-art features such as electromagnetic interference-proof electronics, advanced secure communications equipment, air refueling capability, and perhaps best of all, a 50-inch plasma-screen TV.
But while these are the planes that people think of when they say “Air Force One”, technically the situation is a little different.
Surprising fact about Air Force One
Although Air Force One is often described as a “president’s personal jet” or something similar, it does not actually describe any private aircraft. So, Air Force One is a special calling code reserved for any US Air Force aircraft currently carrying the US President, whether it’s the aforementioned Boeing VC-25A or a legacy propeller plane.
At this point, you may still not have an idea of how the planes took off more times than the number of landings. The second part of this interesting event involves Watergate, one of the biggest political scandals in US political history.
It began in the early hours of June 17, 1972, when a group of thieves were caught stealing top-secret documents and tapping the Democratic National Committee’s phones at the Watergate building complex in Washington, DC.
It was an election year. Incumbent Republican Richard Nixon faced off with his Democratic opponent, George McGovern. According to the polls, Nixon had no reason to shy away from his opponent, and would likely win the election with a massive advantage in 49 states, by more than 20 percent of the popular vote.
But the Republican President was paranoid and insecure, and if there was no way to legally guarantee his success that November, he wasn’t afraid to use alternative means to secure his re-election. It was later revealed that among the more aggressive tactics used by Nixon’s Committee to Re-Elect the President included illegal spying on his opponents.
Former US president Obama is with Air Force One.At first, Nixon vehemently denied any connection to the theft. But soon the evidence against him began to accumulate. For example, when the Watergate robbers were caught, copies of the White House phone number of the re-election committee were found on them. In addition, just days after the theft, the perpetrators were sent hundreds of thousands of dollars in silence money by the president. Predictably, the sending of such money aroused clear suspicion in legal circles.
But as bad as it all was, Nixon made things worse for himself. By directing the CIA to block the FBI’s investigation into the crime, his potential crime has grown from illegal espionage to obstruction of justice and abuse of presidential power.
Eventually, the president’s involvement in the conspiracy became undeniable, with strangely obsessive recordings of Nixon’s every speech being discovered and obtained in the Oval Office. In July 1974, the House Judiciary Committee voted to accuse Nixon of obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt for Congress, and his impeachment was almost certain.
Thus, on August 9, 1974, Nixon became the first and so far only president to step down from the top post. In a televised speech the evening before his resignation, he diplomatically told the Americans that he might not be able to get the Congressional support he felt was necessary to continue as president because of the Watergate issue, adding: “Therefore, starting at noon tomorrow, I will resign from my position as President. Vice President Ford will be sworn in as President in this office at that hour.”
And Nixon left the White House the next day, as promised. At 10 am, he, his wife and daughters were taken to the White House grounds, where a helicopter was waiting to take them to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. From there, the family of the former president boarded the presidential plane for the last time and flew home to California. At 12:05 the new Commander-in-Chief and President of the United States became Gerald Ford.
Within two hours, the calling code of the plane changed
However, as you may have noticed, there is a missing period of approximately two hours. The source of Air Force One’s mysterious statistics lies in these two hours. Because Nixon left the White House so early that day, he was already in the air when Presidential power passed from him to Ford at noon. In fact, it was exactly 39,000 feet (about 12 kilometers) above Jefferson City, Missouri.
So, officially, Nixon was president at the time the plane took off, and so the plane that took off was Air Force One. However, with the change of the President at the time of landing, the calling code of the plane had also changed, and therefore Air Force One had an interesting statistic as an aircraft that did not land despite taking off.
27867
