A Surprise Visitor to Detroit Metro

As I said in the last post, I found out that there was going to be a special visitor coming to Detroit Metro.

When I got up to the parking deck to watch said visitor, I saw that Detroit had another surprise visitor.  This P-8 Poseidon belongs to VP-30 out of Jacksonville, Florida.  I'm not sure why it was here though.

An A300 belonging to UPS.

This A330 was on its way to Amsterdam.

An American 737 heading to Charlotte.

I liked the looks of it as it climbed up.

Another American 737 but it was heading to Dallas.

A United E175 heading to Newark.

I'm not sure where this Spirit Aircraft is heading.

Another United E175 but I'm not sure where it is heading.

A Southwest 737.

A Delta A321 heading to Atlanta.

SAme a little higher.

An A320 heading to Miami.

Some but flying by.

I'm not sure where this CRJ is heading.

An American A320.

A shot with the beacon.

An E175 coming in.

Another A321 heading to Atlanta.

An A321 coming in from LAX.

An American 737 heading off to Charlotte.

A 717 coming in from St. Louis.

An A320 heading somewhere.

The State Police helicopter indicated that the plane I was waiting for would be taking off soon.

It was making sure there was nobody around.

The special visitor turned out to be Air Force One.  President Biden was in town today but I'm not sure what for.

This makes the third time I've see this plane.

It starts the takeoff role.

And starts to lift into the sky.

I think this is my favorite.

And it climbs into the air.

I will have to admit, this is a pretty impressive looking aircraft.

And it turns off to Washington DC.  Like I said, this is a pretty impressive aircraft even though the livery looks pretty low key.  I hope that they have an updated version of this for the new VC-25s getting built.
 

Catching Air Force One

 I found out that President Biden was coming to this area today to visit the striking workers.  I had a good idea of what time he would be arriving, so I checked the ADSB Exchange at around that time and found out that he was somewhere over Pennsylvania.  So I took an early lunch and headed over to the airport.

I also had a good idea of which way he would be coming, so I headed over to the industrial park that is just west of I-275.  I knew that the runways on the east side of the airport were closed, so I didn't have to worry that he would be using one of those.

As I was waiting for the main event, this Embrear 175 was coming in.

It was coming in from Pittsburgh.

As I was waiting, I decided to plug my scanner in and that was when I heard the magic words, "Air Force One cleared for landing on Runway 4R".   That was not the runway that was right next to me, but it was close enough.

Sadly, it was a cloudy day but the rain had stopped while the plane was coming in.

I kind of wish I had better light but this will do.  I was able to do some cleaning up in my photo program.

I will have to say this is a beautiful aircraft and I am glad that they aren't going to use one of the designs of the previous President.

I think this is a nice elegant look, especially since it was basically designed by Jackie Kennedy.

I'm not sure how much longer this design is going to be around as they are building replacements for these planes.

Considering these planes are 30 years old, it is probably time to retire them.

One more shot.

The VC-25 Visits Detroit

As I said a couple of posts ago, I found out that President Trump was coming to visit the Ford Rawsonville Plant in Ypsilanti.  Since I didn't have any pictures of the VC-25, I figured that I would try to catch it.

 The winds were coming in from the south and he would be landing on Runway 3R, so that meant getting pictures of him would be tricky unless I went to the parking deck or a spot just south of the airport.  I figured that I would try for the spot south of the airport.

 I decided to have my scanner on and I heard the following, "Air Force One, you are cleared to land on Runway 3 right".  I looked in the sky and I saw that the plane was coming in, so I had to pull over and these two pictures were the best I could do.

 I found a copy of his itinerary online and saw that he was going to leave the Ford Plant at around 5:10.  That gave me enough time to head over to the airport to try and get some pictures of his take off.  I figured that he would be taking off from the same runway, but I saw that the winds had shifted, so he would be taking off to the south.  I headed up to the parking deck because I figured that would be my best opportunity to get pictures.   While I was there, I figured I would get some pictures of other planes.  This CRJ-200 was heading to Allentown (where they're closing all the factories down.....).

 His plane was still there, as I was waiting, I was talking to my mom because she was kind of watching his speech on TV.

 So then I caught this Southwest 737 heading for Baltimore.

 I think I like this picture better.

 A Delta A319 arriving from Tampa.  Before Covid-19 hit, this would have been a 757 flight.  It's kind of sad.

 Another A319 arriving from Baltimore.

 5:30 rolled around and my mom said he was still on TV.  I decided to pack it in because I didn't want to be much later.  As I was leaving the airport, I saw the helicopter that was flying over the north side of the airport turn back towards his plane.  I figured that meant he was coming back from the Ford Plant.

 I thought maybe he was taking Marine One from Ypsilanti because I saw pictures of that as well.  He wasn't.  It was still pretty cool to get a picture of the motorcade.  This is only the second time I've seen a Presidential motorcade.  I don't care who is in it, it is still impressive.

 Everybody back on the plane and it gets ready to take off.

 In 1985, the 707 based VC-137s that carried Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan were 23 and 13 years old, respectively.  It was determined that they needed a replacement for those aircraft.

 The Request for Proposal stated that the aircraft had to have at least 3 engines.  McDonnell-Douglas proposed a version of the DC-10 and Boeing proposed a version of the 747.  The Boeing version won and the US Air Force had two of them produced at a cost of 325 million dollars each.

 Each plane can accommodate 70 passengers.  The cargo area can carry food and other stuff.   I think this plane is electro magnetic pulse hardened, so I could be used in the event of a nuclear war.  But I also think that the President would be transferred to the Doomsday plane.

 It is capable of flying 7,800 miles without being refueled.  That is roughly 1/3 of the distance around the globe.  With refueling, it can stay in the air for three days before some components need some loving.

 This is office space and I believe WiFi capability.  There is also a pretty serious communications suite.  The President can conduct all of his business in the sky if he needs to.

 Anyway, I was expecting the plane to take off from 18R but they got the clearance to take off from 27L.  I think that made for better shots anyway.

 This aircraft is only designated as "Air Force One" when the President is on board.  It is used to take the replaced President back home.  When the President is not on board it is called Special Air Mission 28000 or 29000 depending on which plane is used.

 While President Reagan never flew on it while he was alive, it was used to transport his coffin to his state funeral in Washington DC and back to his library in Santa Barbara.  It was also used to carry the caskets of President George H.W. Bush and President Gerald Ford.

 This plane first flew in 1990 which means it was used by Presidents George HW Bush, Clinton, George W Bush, Obama and Trump.  These are going to be replaced by the VC-25B which is based on the 747-8.

 When these planes get replaced, they will feature a new (uglier) color scheme.

 After taking off to the west, the plane banked and headed back towards Washington D.C.

One more shot before it disappeared in the clouds.