Plane Spotting: the Presidential 747

Photo Credit: Eric Moon

Many of you may have plane spotted a large, low-flying aircraft in the airspace around MDT earlier this week.  If you're not following the airport's Facebook fan page or Twitter feed, you may not realize that aircraft was the modified 747 used  as 'Air Force One.'  No, the President wasn't landing at Harrisburg, nor was he just flying around on the plane.  The reason the 747 is an oft visitor to MDT is because of the flight crew's responsibility to practice flying the aircraft and its landing/departure maneuvers on a regular basis.  It's not uncommon to see the modified 747, 757, 737 and other aircraft in the governmental fleet practicing maneuvers on our runway.  Do we get fore notice that they'll be here?  Not usually, we often know they're here when they're spotted by airport staff.  

The various planes in the governmental fleet practice at MDT due to the abundant length and width of our runway (we can accommodate any type of aircraft flying in the world) and due to our proximity (via air) to Andrews Air Force Base (AFB), wherein many of the fleet are stored.  We're an approximately 20-minute flight from the AFB.  

So, you're now curious to learn more about the various aircraft that practice maneuvers at your hometown airport, aren't you?  We've found a few resources that detail the various aircraft: 

• "Air Force One"  (modified 747), otherwise known as the VC-25
• "Air Force Two" (modified 757), otherwise known as the C-32
• Boeing C-40 Clipper (modified 737), also occasionally fulfils the role of "AF-2"

Next time you see this aircraft or similar at MDT in your neck of the airspace, tweet us a photo using the hashtag, #MDTPlaneSpot or post a photo to our fan page wall.  We love to see the various aircraft from your perspective, too!