President Trump took his first flight on the new Air Force One yesterday. The Boeing 747 luxury jet was given to the U.S. by the government of Qatar, raising concerns about ethics and security.
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President Trump has taken his first flight on the new Air Force One. He took the Boeing 747 luxury jet to North Dakota yesterday. NPR’s Joel Rose reports on the ethics and security concerns about the plane.
JOEL ROSE, BYLINE: Moments before the maiden voyage of the new Air Force One, President Trump talked to reporters at Joint Base Andrews.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: So this will be the first flight of what I think is maybe the greatest commercial plane ever built.
ROSE: The recent-model Boeing 747 was gifted last year by Qatar. It’s supposed to relieve pressure on two older 747s that have served as Air Force One, as a bridge until Boeing can deliver two custom planes that are years behind schedule. Gone is the muted light-blue color scheme, replaced by bold red, white and blue.
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TRUMP: You can do two things. You can low-key it or you can show it. And I think the country should be very proud of it.
ROSE: The gift from the government of Qatar raised ethical concerns from Democrats and some Republicans. President Trump, though, has brushed off the criticism, saying the jet will be donated to his presidential library. The gift from a foreign government also raised questions about national security and about how long it would take to retrofit the plane for its new mission, and at what cost. Doug Birkey directs the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. He says planes that serve as Air Force One have capabilities that go far beyond a standard passenger jet.
DOUG BIRKEY: Communication suite has to be incredibly robust to handle any level of national security requirement. You also have self-protection elements on board.
ROSE: But Birkey says some of the regular standards for Air Force One may have been relaxed in order to get the job done in just over a year.
BIRKEY: Clearly a lot of these details are classified, but I would expect that some of those requirements were modified and they might be doing workarounds. You might see the aircraft staying stateside more than going abroad.
ROSE: The Air Force said in a statement that the plane is, quote, “safe, secure and equipped with the most advanced technologies,” unquote, in spite of the accelerated timeline.
President Trump was asked on Wednesday how much all of this cost taxpayers. He didn’t say. The Air Force secretary told Congress last year that it would probably cost less than $400 million to retrofit the Qatari jet, though some experts say the real number could be much higher. Joel Rose, NPR News, Washington.
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