JFK 04/06/2011 -- Air Force One

[gonzalu]

When I woke up this morning, the weather was absolutely perfect! Perfectly blue cloud-less skies. By 4:00pm, it had turned back to mud.

Air Force One took off from PHL a little early around 4:00pm. She showed up on approach around 4:50pm

I love these guys.. .they must still think they're flying F-15s... JFK was on the 22s with a somewhat strong gust but, AF1 picked the expected shortest path to the ramp, 31L. At around 5DME she made a hard left turn and came in really fast, faster than all other 747s ever come in to 31L. It only slowed down around 1 DME.

5 DME

http://manny.smugmug.com/Airplanes/Spotting/JFK-04062011/D3G9593/1242615555_5v7LS-O.jpg

2 DME

http://manny.smugmug.com/Airplanes/Spotting/JFK-04062011/D3G9609/1242615566_N5k6Z-O.jpg

1/2 DME

http://manny.smugmug.com/Airplanes/Spotting/JFK-04062011/D3G9635/1242615568_yJcSa-O.jpg

Landing. Sorry about the fence... I tried to go as far to the right of Innwood to get the tower in the shot. But that can only be done through chain-link.

http://manny.smugmug.com/Airplanes/Spotting/JFK-04062011/D3G9673/1242615599_JVaNg-O.jpg

[NWA DC9]

Really great pictures nice catch.

[steve1840]

Good shots considering the lighting conditions. Glad to see someone got AF1 this week.

[NIKV69]

Nice manny, I saw the radar and new the sun was going bye bye. Did you hear the ATC convo?

[moose135]

I was out at Bayswater...

http://www.moose135photography.com/Airplanes/Airliners-and-Airport-Spotting/Kennedy-Airport/JM2011040682-8000001/1242655781_RfNQP-L.jpg

I need to get this shot again in good weather:

http://www.moose135photography.com/Airplanes/Airliners-and-Airport-Spotting/Kennedy-Airport/JM2011040682-8000002/1242655747_Beqb3-L.jpg

http://www.moose135photography.com/Airplanes/Airliners-and-Airport-Spotting/Kennedy-Airport/JM2011040682-8000003/1242655757_VLi2f-L.jpg

Manny, tower was calling the winds at 290@15ish, so 31 was really the better runway. You can expect them to use 31L most all of the time now that it is open again.

[gonzalu]

Thanks guys. Moose, GREAT shots... and yeah I was listening to tower... it was funny there was a Delta that almost made it and then got told, sorry go spin! VIP movements lol.

Moose, I am all over it. I usually look for the NYPD Helos... they give away the route they will use LOL. They do progressive 1 mile loops from over the field to about 5 DME along whatever RWY they will use. This has happened the last 4 times I have personally seen AF1 landing.

Moose, GREAT shots ;-) I did not want to go all the way to Bayswater and get stuck so I decided to stay a little closer. Also, if traffic was not so bad, I could technically make it to The Mounds if they somehow got vectored for the 22s from CAMRN approach. Technically with "normal" planes, it takes about 15 minutes from the time they check in at around 20,000' til on final.

[gonzalu]

BTW Moose, Tower was wrong about wind direction on the 31L ... at least the WX ASOS was since it is at the far east of the field LOL. I had a flag right next to me and it was blowing strongly straight from the south-west. I believe the 22s were the better choice from what I saw. Do you have any shots of the Wind Sock on 31L near KK? There used to be one there or thereabouts...

[Gerard]

Moose, I am all over it. I usually look for the NYPD Helos... they give away the route they will use LOL.

Thats pretty funny and so true. When I am at work in Manhattan and the timing is right to get to see the motorcade and dont have my scanner I always know when they are getting
close when I see PD Aviation sweeping the rooftops and the route. :cool:

[Gerard]

When I woke up this morning, the weather was absolutely perfect! Perfectly blue cloud-less skies. By 4:00pm, it had turned back to mud. "] ("http://manny.smugmug.com/Airplanes/Spotting/JFK-04062011/D3G9673/1242615599_JVaNg-O.jpg[/IMG)

I was thinking of going down to JRB after work to check out Marine 1 and his entourage coming in but a number of weather forecasts said it would be crappy later so I decided
to wait for another time. Good move. Heading to Penn Station up West 32 Street at 4:35 and it was chilly and the rain just begining. In fact it rained bad enough to cancel the
Yankee game but probably not bad enough for Marine 1 to make the trip tp JFK.

[moose135]

Manny, now that 31L is back in service, they will almost always land that way. They park down near Hangar 19, so it is an easy route into parking. They will usually leave 13R for the same reason. The only time I saw the VC-25 come in on 22L was a couple of years ago - after dropping off POTUS, they repositioned to SWF, it was UN week, and he was in town for a couple of days. When they came back in prior to his departure, they landed 22L in sequence with other traffic, since they were "SAM 29000" rather than "Air Force 1". They departed 13R that day once they picked up the President.

Standing next to the water at Bayswater, the wind sure seemed to be coming from the west, which matched what I heard tower reporting. I did see the NYPD helicopter circling over Inwood Park, I'm sure they saw you down there!

[gonzalu]

Moose, I know, and I agree... that's why I was at Innwood instead of The Mounds... I knew they would pick the best route straight from the south into 31L. But I was ready "just in case" I know from previous updates here that they moved back to the left side from the Triple Hangars since construction on 31L is now completed (or somewhat completed)

It is always a lot of fun and very exciting seeing AF1 with POTUS on board. I made sure when NYPD 15 was overhead, that I was nicely tucked away in my car. I don't want them to mistake my lens for a bazooka! I may have gotten away with it with a ticket the other day, but explaining my hobby while POTUS is inbound will likely not make me anyone's friend!

[Roush6NY]

Great shots guys ! Manny, I was stuck at the office as usual when you texted me :( Glad you made it out there

[TSGSpotting]

My dad was stuck on the AF A380 when this came in. Since catch!

[Zee71]

Nice catch Manny and Moose! I wish you guys had better light.

[fk6065]

Nice shots guys

[gonzalu]

Thanks... like I said, morning was very promising ... If I knew Moose was covering it, I may not have made the trip from Manhattan ... but the draw of the airport is too strong.

[mirrodie]

Always nice to see. And on a clear day, always interesting to see other nearby movements in relation to it.

I've never flown DCA to JFK but how long is hte trip on AF1 vs any other airliner. (wait, where does Pres hitch a ride on AF1 from again?O)

[moose135]

Mario, they normally depart out of Andrews AFB. It's about 200 miles straight line to JFK, and since they don't have to worry about being number 14 for landing behind a gaggle of CRJs, it's probably a short trip, certainly less than an hour.

[gonzalu]

This time, she left PHL at around 4 and got to JFK in less than an hour.

[Iberia A340-600]

Mario, the ride up from DCA to JFK is roughly 45 minutes. The shortest flight I've had was 38 minutes and the longest was 50. In September I flew up the day Obama did ADW-JFK for the UN GA and we left an hour or so before he did and he got in 30 minutes after I did.

[gonzalu]

Air Force One uses Racing Fuel, not pump gas :tongue:

[NLovis]

DOE missed my chance. Nice shots manny and moose. Even with the poor weather those look nice.

[eric8669]

My cousin was on a school trip to Washington that day, she and her class were brought to Andrews to watch the president depart.

Photos by my cousin Julia.
http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/ac155/southpawcaptures/AirForceOneJulia.jpg

http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/ac155/southpawcaptures/AirForce1Julia.jpg

[chrisparypa]

I hope to see VC-25 at Andrews during the Air Show in May :) around the same day president is going for Euro Trip :) and I hope to see VC-25 taking off :)