Whats the Queen flying in?

[Chris558]

In the 2007/2008 fiscal year only 9% of the flying hours of the squadron were devoted to flying the Royal Family and their staff.

In other words: "On yer bike, Queenie!"

[cstorey]

Does the immediately preceding post have some meaning ? If so , what is it ?

[Hot_Charlie]

Cheers Chaps, thats the one. Seems strange flying her in a Civie one after all that money was spent on the QF ones for countermeasures

I suspect the decision was purely a tactful one, particularly as her programme featured commemorations of several fairly controversial events involving UK armed forces in the distant past. Arrive in a civvy jet, and potential ammunition and criticism is warded off.

[clavel9]

Still, a fairly low-key presence compared to US president's visit here tomorrow. At last count, 4 C-17's, 3 C-5B's, at least 10 different Chinooks and 8 Blackhawks have been spotted around Dublin as well as numerous US-reg bizjets. They've closed all the minor roads and best plane-spotting sites around the airport since yesterday.

[Chris Trott]

Yeah, an overseas trip for the President can get kinda big, especially going somewhere that they can't rely on nearby bases to provide support aircraft. They have to fly it all in, thus the C-5's and C-17's. His normal support in the US or where there's bases nearby is the VC-25(s), 2 C-17's, and maybe one of the C-32's (757's) or a chartered plane for the press and cabinet. The need for 2 C-17's is pretty much standard because one carries the convoy, and one carries the comm gear and the aircraft security team.

[Garry Russell]

Yeah..but why such a big convoy?...can't he make do with a smaller set up like other leaders use.

Seems to me just something to make the US look bigger than everyone else

[SkippyBing]

Seems to me just something to make the US look bigger than everyone else

In much the same way when we had an empire the King would travel in a battle ship with attendant escorts.
It's not to make the US look bigger than everyone else, it's to reinforce in peoples minds , like it or not, that they are.

[Chris Trott]

The convoy itself isn't that big normally. 5 or 6 vehicles (3-4 Suburbans, 1 or 2 Limos). But you also have to understand that beyond the President, he's usually traveling with staff and department heads (especially on foreign visits) and for security, they can't always ride with the president (the department heads that is). So if the Secretary of State is traveling with the President, she may not even be on the same airplane depending on what's going on, but she also can't normally ride with him in the convoy, adding another 1 or 2 cars to the convoy.

Truth be told, the Secret Service would love to do with less, but the problem is they really can't. There have been at least 6 attempts on the President in the last 30 years (regardless of party) and one very nearly was successful (Reagan) and that was with a convoy and protection detail that was actually slightly larger than what they use now. At the end of the day, it's not because of how "big" we are, but how big of a target he is. He is, like it or not, seen by many as the "Symbol of Democracy" and all that it is (good and bad) and thus those who'd like to do harm to not only the US but to all democracies, target him because he's the biggest symbol of what they don't like.

[Chris Trott]

Oh yeah, I forgot about the helicopters - I don't know what his schedule is this time, but the Secret Service doesn't like driving him if they can avoid it. They can control things much better with aircraft than with vehicles, so they prefer to fly him as much as possible. The "Chinooks" are probably actually VH-46's (similar aircraft, but smaller) and the Blackhawks are VH-60's of HMX-1 (the Marine Corps Presidential Helicopter Airlift Squadron). I can't find many good pics of the VH-46 or VH-60, but there are some out there on the web. But their main purpose for being is as a backup anyway. Even when he's not being flown around, the helicopters are there in case they have to evacuate him. They'll launch the helicopters to pick him up (VH-60's for short range, VH-46's for longer) and take him to a pre-designated evacuation point and then put him on the VC-25 (which will have launched if it was any kind of large attack and moved to another location) or the E-4B that is shadowing them if it's a major attack, and then go from there.

Most of what you see they hope to never use because it means that a full-scale attack has occurred (probably nuclear) and we're all in deep doo-doo.

[SkippyBing]

I am vaguely surprised they still have VH-46s to evacuate him, UK troops haven't been allowed to fly on them since the beginning of Op Telic because the MoD don't think they're safe enough!