Hi, I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, host of the new How Stuff Works Now podcast. Every week, I'll be bringing you three stories from our team about the weird and wondrous developments we've seen in science, technology, and culture. Fresh episodes will be out every Monday on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play Music, and everywhere else that fine podcasts are found. Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff, it's Christian Sager here. Imagine you're on the streets of Manhattan
on April two thousand and nine. All of a sudden, Air Force one flies overhead, lower to the ground than a plane should be, and an F sixteen fighter jet is chasing it. Your first thought probably isn't oh, Harrison Ford is making a sequel to his classic nine action film Air Force One. No, it's probably more like, oh my God, New York is under attack, and then you
evacuate your building. Well, it turns out this actually how and it was because the White House wanted to capture new souvenir photos of the President's airplane flying over the Statue of Liberty. The incident was blamed on miscommunication between the White House and New York City Hall, but regardless of who is at fault. Let me throw this fact that you it costs fifty dollars per second to operate air Force one. That's over a hundred and eighty thousand
dollars per hour. That's the cost for your plane to be considered a major symbol of technological prestige. Yeah, and we were using it for a tourist photo op. Technically, air Force one isn't even a single plane. It's actually the radio call name for any plane carrying the president
of the United States. For instance, when Gerald Ford was sworn in as president, the plane carrying Richard Nixon home was redesignated midflight to s A M to seven zero zero zero because there was no longer an acting president on board. But for the most part, we've come to understand air Force one as one of two Boeing seven
forty seven's that the president frequently travels in. While presidents like Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman had official presidential air transport, it was John F. Kennedy who first requested a flying White House, and his first lady, Jacqueline Kennedy, even oversaw
its blue and white interior design. The Twins seven oh seven's that Kennedy Commission served the Office of the President until nineteen, when the Air Force replaced them with the pair of seven forty seven two hundred bees used today now. Even though the New York fly over incident in two thousand nine was annoying, it's not the first time the aircraft has been used for public relations. Presidents often used
the vehicle to impress other politicians. They even used to have official Air Force one plane cards and candy to give to visitors. But despite how much they like to show it off, many parts of the plane are off limits to visitors for obvious reasons. The Air Force doesn't want to reveal too much about the crafts layout. Here's
what we do know, though. Like other seven forty seven's air Force one has three levels, but it is equipped to act as a traveling office for the President, their staff, family, and the White House Press Corps. Its interior has four thousand square feet of floor space that's a thousand, two hundred and nineteen meters, and the lowest level is used for cargo space, while the top level is mostly comprised
of the plane's advanced communications equipment. The middle level is where the passengers ride This includes the president's living quarters and office, as well as an exercise room. There's also a conference room that doubles as a dining room, the cockpit, a medical suite with an extensive pharmacy office, areas quarters
for staff, the press area, and two galleys. These hold as many as two thousand meals and are capable of feeding up to a hundred people at a time, which is perfect since the plane can carry up to seventy passengers and twenty six crew members. And let me tell you, the President's ride is pimped out more than anything Exhibits
ever worked on. It has four General electric c F six eight zero C two B one jet engines that give it a top speed between six d thirty and seven hundred miles per hour with a full tank of fifty three thousand, six hundred and eleven gallons of fuel. This means Air Force one can fly halfway around the world without even gassing up. Now. Unlike other seven forty sevens, this one has retractable stairways and its own baggage loader, so it doesn't even require airport facilities. The technology on
the top level is also pretty amazing. Air Force one has numerous onboard telephones, radios, television's computer connections, and fax machines, and you can bet the WiFi is better than your last commercial flight to All these electronics add up to two hundred and thirty eight miles of wiring that are shielded well enough to protect them from an electromagnetic pulse attack.
Beyond that, the planes advanced avionics and defenses are classified, but it's definitely designed to withstand an air assault, jam enemy radar, and eject flares to confuse heat seeking missiles. Maybe it even has awesome turrets like the Millennium Falcon. Probably not, but could the Millennium Falcon refuel midflight? Air Force one can do that. In fact, it can stay in the air indefinitely as long as other planes keep bringing thousands of gallons of jet fuel to feed it.
An air Force one isn't the only aircraft to a company the president to sea. Five Galaxy planes tag along as well, carrying limousines, secret service agents, and a special ambulance. Also, an advanced C one four one starlift or cargo carrier flies ahead of the President to deliver his or her motorcade. All of these vehicles are maintained by the Presidential Airlift Group, which classifies every flight as a military mission. All crew
members are military personnel operating with high security. Even those who prepare meals aboard Air Force one have to purchase the food undercover from random locations. As awesome as these planes are, the current seven forty seven serving the White House have been in operations since nineteen and it's about
time for an upgrade. Maintaining the current vehicles is expensive because commercial airlines have already retired their seven two hundred fleets, so the Air Force is planning on getting three new aircraft delivered for nineteen and one. After a chance to bid for contract. Boeing is once again the company commission to build the new planes and are considering either a seven four, seven eight or a seven eighty seven as
models for the design. To keep up its reputation as a flying base for one of the most powerful people in the world, Boeing better come up with something pretty swank for Potis to ride around it. Maybe it'll get laser turrets. Check out the Brainstuff channel on YouTube, and for more on this and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com.