The Air Force on Tuesday awarded a contract to Boeing for the two new airplanes at a total cost of $3.9 billion, the White House confirmed in a statement Wednesday.
I think I've heard this discussion before from the airline point of reference. If I recall correctly, painted aircraft are generally cheaper to maintain, appearance wise, than polished bare aluminum. That's unless they routinely fly the aircraft to a 3rd world country where they can use cheap labor to polish the aluminum.
While it may cost big bucks to paint an aircraft, it cost more to maintain a polished metal look if the polishing is done at union wages.
SW-User
That's not true, our government is buying two new planes to replace the existing ones.. Trump wants them painted red, white and blue.... to make them look more patriotic.. The contract to build the planes is 3.9 billion dollars..
3.9 billion? You can buy that plane dozen of times for that money. You sure about that number? That’s about the cost of a aircraft carrier and just for paint?
@Bill1372 It would have to be bullet proof, waterproof, slung slime proof, bomb proof, hijack proof, so aerodynamic you could travel through time, dust proof and error proof as well as lasting until the end of time.
The whole thing. Every point you raise. The two existing planes need to be replaced and border on obsolescence however the “new” plan as you outline it sucks (I AGREE WITH YOU) @ImDone
They need a new paint scheme to change "United States of America" to "Trumpistan", and change the presidential seal to the family seal Trump stole from England.
Ok, then tell me the maintenance cycle of Air Force One.
Graylight may not be an aviation expert or even enthusiast. But I have had a lifelong interest (almost obsession) with aircraft. I also know full size pilots and a few current and former aerospace engineers (Some who worked for Boeing) who really know their stuff when it comes to such things and when Trump made his announcement about spiraling costs and cancelling the order I asked what Boeing might do to cut costs; And one retired engineer actually said to me, "Re model existing airframes, but in the long run it won't be cheaper because VC25A (The actual designation of the 747; AF1 is the call sign)" is like no other 747. Most of it is highly classified and even the guys who build it don't know everything about it for security reasons"
So whatever Trump thinks (I know it's asking too much) the 'deal' is, it will be a potential clusterfuck because the existing wiring etc will have to be ripped out to get down to the frames to remodel it. It isn't the same as just putting new covers on car seats or a new air filter on the intake manifold. And it all has to be certified and cleared just like any other aircraft.
Trump really has no idea what it is he's talking about. No big surprises there.