BBJ VIP Fleet Review

[Daniel M]

Originally Posted by Stuart Trevena

Hi All,

Yusef, re your comments above, if that is the case, then How and Why do they do it the President of the USA, who is much more powerful than our own PM?

Also, then why the Headline - "Prime Minister Tony Abbott to fly worldwide non-stop on Airbus KC-30A"

By conducting Air to Air refuel, must save at least 2-3 hours, if flying to Europe and Washington

Stuart

I believe AF1 has the 'capability' to be refuelled air to air, but has not done so with a President on board. It would only be required in an extreme situation where AF1 is required to remain airborne for an extensive amount of time (24 hours etc) and would be done in this situation as no other option is available.

[Tom Lohdan]

Indeed AF1 can be refueled, there is a photo on Flyertalk currently showing it in the United 757 John Kerry Thread. No one knows if it was a dry or wet test.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/23371922-post53.html

[Jaryd stock]

Except for during wet testing for both VC-25's, SAM 28/29000 have never been refueled in mid flight other than those times. USAF PAG crew have never trained on EITHER VC-25's in A2A refueling instead transiting to Offut AFB in Nebraska and training on 1st ACCS E-4B's as both have boom receptors.

[Ray P.]

Originally Posted by Tom Lohdan

Indeed AF1 can be refueled, there is a photo on Flyertalk currently showing it in the United 757 John Kerry Thread. No one knows if it was a dry or wet test.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/23371922-post53.html

We're talking VC25s, not C32s aren't we?

[Todd Steele]

Pretty sure they tried it in the movie Air Force One, didn't go so well from what i can recal

[Rod Sloan]

At present the nation's leader is incommunicado whenever he travels on a VIP jet.

Bollocks.

[John C]

I would like to see them look at some sort of public private partnership like the poms have done with their Voyager aircraft.

Part civil crew, part military, surge capacity, spare airframes registered on the civil register with the ability to draw those airframes into the refuelling fleet when required.

[Joseph Saragozza.]

Is it just me, or do some of you have the same mind set as I do, that that its going to cause trouble being a multi role VIP/Tanker?
The VIP are going to want to use it at the same time as the ADF do and the down time need to convert the A/C from standard config to VIP and visa versa. It seems its going to be a logistical nightmare if this was the case

Or is this just a 'cover up' to the general public saying they are buying more KC30 Tankers when they are really buying ACJ330?

[John C]

I stand to be corrected, but my understanding is that the aeroplane will be a standard KC30 with a VIP interior.

There is no reconfiguration required when using the airframe as a tanker, the aeroplane uses the standard tanks (109 tonnes of fuel) and with a full load of fuel and about 30 odd pax it can do Europe to Australia direct.

In the tanking config all they would do is take some of the galley carts off, I imagine, and use a different weight and balance config.

I reckon it is a good idea as you get maximum utilisation from the airframe.

[Bob C]

We have 5 KC30As at present ; A39-001 is still in Europe undergoing trials, A39-002 and -004 are both very busy suporting Exercise Pitch Black and other duties, A39-003 hasn't been noted since 11 Jun and may be in reserve and A39-005 was last noted on 8 Feb and may also be in Europe.

I think the previous Government also wanted a dedicated A330 VIP aircraft so I can't see any problems having an aircraft dedicated as such. When all 5KC30A tankers are operational, the fleet should be adequate for their refuelling and troop transport roles.