Air Force One JFK-Bound on Tuesday March 29th

[Matt Molnar]

Air Force One is expected at JFK Tuesday afternoon as President Obama visits for a few stops in Manhattan. He is expected to depart Tuesday night.

First TFR (http://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_1_3746.html) for Kennedy goes from 1330 to 1430 local, so chances are AF1 will arrive around then.

[RomNYC]

I'm there!

But since I've never seen AF One before, does it usually use a particular runway, or does it follow the pattern applied to other aircrafts at the time?

[eric8669]

I'm there!

But since I've never seen AF One before, does it usually use a particular runway, or does it follow the pattern applied to other aircrafts at the time?

its probably going to be 31R. I'll be out there.

[NLovis]

Im all there. Its time to improve the one I have.

[steve1840]

Oh man I wish I could be there with you guys for this!

Just out of curiosity, what does the Pres usually travel in when going to the smaller cities/airports? He's going to be up here in CT to visit the Coast Guard Academy in May and figure he'll arrive at the smaller airport (Groton/New London Airport). I'm thinking he would probably just arrive in one of the choppers when he's here?

[flyingwithfish]

Steve,

POTUS generally flies into GON when visiting the USCGA, the a motorcade from GON to the Academy. Bush's last trip here was on a C-32, not a VC-25, his previous trip to the USCGA was a VC-25 to BDL then the White Tops down to the Academy.

[steve1840]

Guess I'll just have to keep wait and see whats going to happen as the date gets closer. Any way it happens, will be great to capture one of the Presidential A/C.

[Zee71]

Wish I could be there, but work has me tied up. Maybe on the way home from work I'll pass by the field to catch a glimp of her. Any idea on the departure time??? Some thing tells me late in the evening.

[gonzalu]

They like 31R to end up at T3 where they can safely guard it and have plenty of room for the choppers etc. I am more curious about which of the two comes in. Last time it was the rarer ship...

http://images3.jetphotos.net/img/2/1/3/8/44103_1294174831.jpg

http://images3.jetphotos.net/img/2/0/2/8/25214_1293501820.jpg

[RomNYC]

For y'all information, the official Obama schedule has an arrival in NYC at 2:05pm.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2011/03/president_obama_official_sched_571.html

[eric8669]

JFK is currently landing 4R and departing 31L. I still expect AF1 to land 31R.

[fk6065]

Decicions decisions. Panera. Cosco. Bayswater. Looks like they are stll on 4

[steve1840]

FYI, they were on the 4s on Saturday and cleared the C-17 (which actually was dropping off Obama's limo and other stuff for the Pres) to land 31L.

[RomNYC]

I'm at Costco right now. Fingers crossed for 31R.

[fk6065]

Hedging my bets on 31R. Good luck everyone

[Ari707]

Currently landing on the 4's,
winds are 320@8 so the 31's are a good possibilty

[Ari707]

Currently conducting an inspection on 31R so that seems like a good possibilty

[Ari707]

AF 1 just checked in for 31L

[RomNYC]

Yeah 31L... 200mm backlit yay... :-/

[fk6065]

Just landed on 31L.

[eric8669]

Yeah, 31L, should he listened more closely to the runway inspection just prior to landing. Oh well

[hiss srq]

Except in very extenuating circumstances AF1 will always land 31L departing 13R due to the nearness to the former TWA hanger. She resumed parking there as of this trip. P.S. for those of you out there spotting expect 4's the rest of the night w a few 31L departures.....

[eric8669]

Except in very extenuating circumstances AF1 will always land 31L departing 13R due to the nearness to the former TWA hanger. She resumed parking there as of this trip. P.S. for those of you out there spotting expect 4's the rest of the night w a few 31L departures.....

Information we could have used prior to landing. Next time. It has landed 31r consistantly the last few times.

[fk6065]

Any idea of a departure time.............oopps found it sometime between 9:45Pm and 11:00PM

[NIKV69]

Bring your radios. He sometimes goes to the left. On that configuration even more of a chance. Ryan is right most of the times I tracked it including when I got it she went to the left.

[eric8669]

Bring your radios. He sometimes goes to the left. On that configuration even more of a chance. Ryan is right most of the times I tracked it including when I got it she went to the left.

sorry, I will have to disagree with you there. over the last two years I have shot it 31R arrival and that's atleast 4 or 5 times. Before that it use to be on 31L.

I don't think the configuration has anything to do with it. I've seen them on the 22's, 4's even 13's and he still landed 31R. I think it has to do with the fastest taxi time to where they are setup. In this case they have moved back from the triple hangers to over by TWA.

I had my radio, I did not pay attention to the Runway check about 10 min prior to landing. There's always next time.

[NIKV69]

sorry, I will have to disagree with you there. over the last two years I have shot it 31R arrival and that's atleast 4 or 5 times. Before that it use to be on 31L.

I don't think the configuration has anything to do with it. I've seen them on the 22's, 4's even 13's and he still landed 31R. I think it has to do with the fastest taxi time to where they are setup. In this case they have moved back from the triple hangers to over by TWA.

I had my radio, I did not pay attention to the Runway check about 10 min prior to landing. There's always next time.

Tru I got her in 2008 when she used to go to the left. If I was chasin her I would park at the nursery just south of Panera and put on approach this way you still have plenty of time to zip over to Inwood park or get back into the Panera lot if she goes to the right.

[RomNYC]

Except in very extenuating circumstances AF1 will always land 31L departing 13R due to the nearness to the former TWA hanger. She resumed parking there as of this trip. P.S. for those of you out there spotting expect 4's the rest of the night w a few 31L departures.....

Lol that lasted, what, an hour? They're back on the 31s now. I'm chilling at HoBe.

[fk6065]

Oh well started off at Inwood to try and finally catch the elusive Luftansa A380 in good light.

It didn't show, a 747 came in instead. Very disappointing.

Went over to Panera and Cosco, decided on Cosco and at the last minute caught AF-1 coming in on 31L not 31R which was where I had myself positioned.

Very dissapointing again.

But here are two shots of her coming in.

http://fredkopf.smugmug.com/photos/1233082214_peGbN-L.jpg

http://fredkopf.smugmug.com/photos/1233082304_6f5xf-L.jpg

Again maybe next time, thanks to everyone for feeding the information updates on the arrival, it was a help. Also I believe an incoming aircraft right before AF-1 declared an emergency, I wonder if that was a factor in using 31L?

[NLovis]

Came in on 31L. Backlit shots ruin my chances of an improved AF1 in my records. Ill have them up later.

[bluejuice]

The reason the President came in on 31 R was due to the Bay runway construction . now that the construction is over its back to normal. he parks over by the old United hanger in the corner.

[moose135]

he parks over by the old United hanger in the corner.
You mean the old Pan Am hangar, don't you...

[gonzalu]

I preferred triple hangars (Moose, these [are] United, correct? :-) since we could get ground shots. How the heck is anyone supposed to get pics of her by the Pan Am area? ugh!!! lol

Oh well, there is always the chance she takes off or lands during JSOH... happened once for me a few years ago.

[Mateo]

That JSOH day was great - *BOTH* VC-25s departing in side-on light in front of 400,000 people with cameras. Too bad one of them used 1R instead of being closer to the show line! I guess the Secret Service decided it was better to have the departure in front of hundreds of thousands of people who had been screened rather than move the entire operation over to Dulles for the day.*

*Happens every so often; ADW is too short for the VC- to make Beijing nonstop, so the last China trip departed from Dulles.

[JHNA57]

How the heck is anyone supposed to get pics of her by the Pan Am area? ugh!!! lol.

People Express 727's, 737's & 747's, Malaysian 747's, and even a 707 painted up for a 30th anniversary celebration of Jetliner service (among others), were all aircraft I used to see in that area in the early 80's. Whenever I would go to the airport to spend a couple of hours at the Pan Am rooftop parking area, I would pass through the Pan Am maintenance area just to see what was there.
I would also drive through the Triple Hangar area to see what was there (TMA yellow and green 707's, an Airborne Express Caravelle, and the occasional CL-144) The planes were parked so close to the fence, you would almost be parking under the wings.You could park there for hours and no one would even give you a second look. As a bonus, you were right at the turnoff for aircraft that had just landed on 31R.

Ahhh!, JFK or any other airport in the pre 9/11 era. I'm just sorry I didn't carry a camera.

[PhilDernerJr]

There seems to be a little confusion here. I can't say I'm 100% positive, but....

- Regardless of winds, AF1 will always come ont he runway that is preferred based on PARKING POSITION.

- AF1 Parking used to be near Hangar 19 in the NW corner of the airport. When this was the case, he would ALWAYS land 31L and depart 13R.

- Last year, that parking position was changed from between Building 260 and the Triple Hangars. Since then, the preferred runway has been 31R for landing, 13L for departure.

I may be wrong, but I don't think he has deviated from the above runway usage for years at all.

[megatop412]

The POTUS pilots could probably land those things on some of those gravel strips you see on the Flying Wild Alaska show, in 30kt crosswinds as well