The Presidency

By Hugh Sidey

George Bush's two new airplanes were first dreamed of in the 1960s and finally ordered in July 1986. They sit this winter like beached green whales on the frozen plains outside Wichita, two years overdue, $385 million over budget and gathering controversy like tumbleweed.

This future Air Force One is already being called a "flying Taj Mahal." The two Boeing 747-200Bs are included in the contract of $265 million, a cost now swollen to nearly $650 million, with Boeing and its shareholders stuck for the loss. Throw in an additional $50 million for the new hangar already constructed at Andrews Air Force Base and about $100 million for service and maintenance units. One way or another, Americans are spending the better part of a billion dollars to get their President airborne, and then it will cost around $6,000 an hour to keep him aloft. That is more than the gross national product of Greenland.

The word from the White House is that Bush is irritated about being handed such an item of conspicuous consumption while he skimps on funds for Eastern Europe, education and the drug war. The behemoth jet towers six stories and may have crossed the line of common political sense. It will dwarf an airport rally in Omaha, and does not exactly fit the Jeffersonian image of a citizen Executive going modestly among his people. The designers had an inkling of something being out of proportion and put an exit door in the plane's belly so a President would not look like the Angel Gabriel descending from the clouds as he negotiated 26 ft. of stairs. But that will hardly mask the bird's mass.

Bush never wanted a new plane. Ronald Reagan never asked for one either. This was a classic case of creation by consortium: a dozen or so offices and agencies doing their jobs as best they know how. Nobody looked up and saw that their individual efforts had created a monster.

The old 707 has about 1,350,000 miles on it, is too noisy for today's airports, and spare parts are becoming scarce. The Air Force began in 1983 to urge its replacement; not being politicians, the generals naturally were inclined to make the President's plane the safest, roomiest and best. This 747 will combine more self-sufficiency, range (7,140 miles), comfort and convenience than any other airplane ever built. It will contain all the latest communications gear, antimissile devices, nuclear-proofing and self-sustaining maintenance machinery that the Secret Service and White House staff wanted. Everybody from the stewards to the pilots was consulted, even the reporters who cover the President. They asked for the moon and got it. Boeing and Congress never blinked. The planes will be the most expensive transport aircraft ever produced.

Delivery of the first plane is expected Sept. 30, the second nine months later. What marvelous machines they will be. The presidential suite up front will have twin beds, a shower-tub, electric window curtains. Refrigerator- freezers will hold provisions to feed the 23 crew and 70 passengers for about a week. The plane could function that long on the ground or be refueled in the air should the land be scorched or otherwise inhospitable -- a Strangelovian concept the Air Force will not abandon.

When Air Force One finally flies, it will have six lavatories, not counting the President's own. There will be two galleys, 85 telephones, a six-channel stereo, a 6-cu.-ft. safe for secrets and a television system that will pipe in eight channels at once and enable the President to scan waiting crowds before he emerges. The plane will include four computers, two copying machines, conference rooms, crew bunks, sleeper chairs, a pressroom with TV monitors, and secure phone lines that can rouse Dan, Peter and Tom from any place on the earth and 45,000 ft. up.

This jet will be ready for tragedy. The ceiling of the President's bedroom will be designed for two intravenous hookups. A working annex can be converted to a minihospital with tie-down hardware for a casket. One of the doors on the main cabin level will be sized for the turning radius of a coffin.

These special requirements created their own delay. The jet has 57 antennas for its huge array of electronic gear. Normal is 17. The plane's 238 miles of wire is more than twice that in a commercial version. The big delivery delay occurred when Boeing engineers in Wichita, after installing most of the wiring, were worried about electromagnetic interference in such a thicket. They pulled 20% of the wiring out, went on overtime and rerouted the cables. With all the fancy equipment on board, the Federal Aviation Administration imposed special safety requirements that added to the burden. And almost everybody else with an interest in the plane -- Secret Service, National Security Agency, Signal Corps, White House advance teams, First Lady's office -- did some fiddling with the layout.

At this point one cannot help wondering if the Government could not have pulled a couple of Boeing 767s off the line at about $75 million a copy ($25 million less than a 747), fixed them up a bit (a 767 has 75% more capacity than the old 707) and had the President airborne in plenty of comfort and safety (the Air Force refused to look at any plane with only two motors). Or maybe they should have considered Delta -- ready when you are.