Airforce One delays flights

Can someone please explain why this might have happened...after 12 hours of flying I am at San Francisco International airport. It is 4/4/2013. Over the loud speaker the entire airport is told flights will be delayed because airforce one is in the air. My child and me are not affected badly other than having to spend money for food and contacting our ride waiting at our destination to tell them we will be late. Others are heavily upset in some circumstances. One lady has a business dinner she has to get to. One couple is stranded because bad weather moved in to their destination so they must now find a hotel they cannot afford (ended up deciding they would have to sleep in airport and are elderly). There are two kids who expected a very short layover. They have no money for food yet the lay over turned into 3.5 hours instead of 1/2 hour. God knows how it affected others. Is there a reason why when Obama is in the air commercial airliners have to be grounded? Met another couple later who said coming from Charlottsville NC to San Francisco they were delayed (way across country but because Obama would potentially be in the air at the time of their arrival they had to wait hours). Ended up delay was unnecessary for them but they were quite upset it happened at all. Twice we were updated to tell us the status of airforce one. Finally told airforce one had cleared airport to go back into operation so they begin scrambling to get caught up. I googled this phenomenon yet can find nothing. I pay enough for this guys luxurious lifestyle. Why is he affecting peoples lives like this? If commercial aircraft isn't safe around him then should we be flying? If i am missing the obvious in here forgive me but I'm not figuring out a justification. Hoping someone can enlighten me. On iphone so sorry for any typos.

When does a King ever travel modestly? He needs the entire sky to be clear I guess.

Sucks that so many people got screwed over. I would be pretty angry myself, especially if I had to sleep in an airport because I couldn't afford to stay overnight on a return trip.

I wonder if they realize people traveling on a Thursday may need to be at their destination tomorrow for work.

Hope nobody loses their job over something trivial like this.

9/11.

Traffic is stopped for his motorcade so of course they won't allow commercial aircraft to fly near his plane. I understand your frustration and you should be compensated for your time and expense but I'll bet that won't happen.

Originally posted by billy565
9/11.

Traffic is stopped for his motorcade so of course they won't allow commercial aircraft to fly near his plane. I understand your frustration and you should be compensated for your time and expense but I'll bet that won't happen.

This was also the case before 911. Most likely the case since the first Presidetial flight, common sense should be enough for anyone to figure out why. That anyone is suprised by it after all these years is baffling.

reply to post by Dianec


I could understand a short delay, but over three HOURS? There is no way it takes that long to take off or land. It really sounds like someone was being most inconsiderate of virtually everyone else. No real surprise, but wow. What did he do, circle the place, showing people the view?

Having intimate knowledge on this, I can tell you it is a pain. First, when Air Force One is on final (meaning they are ready to land), all airspace is cleared at a determined distance. On top of that, all ground traffic (baggage handlers, fuel trucks, airliners, etc) are halted. All runways are cleared and checked for FOD (foreign object debris) when AF1 is on its 5mi final.

It causes about 15 minutes of delay, but in the aviation world, 15 minutes is a lifetime and a ton of money. This isn't to even get into the nitty gritty; all maintenance is stopped (airliners, FAA, etc), ATC is stagnant, automobile travel around the airport is disrupted, resources are diverted to one man.....

Double post....

As much as this guy travels this must have become almost routine. It really is sad that he doesn't really care how much impact his fun and games have on the life of everyone else.

Originally posted by Chett
As much as this guy travels this must have become almost routine. It really is sad that he doesn't really care how much impact his fun and games have on the life of everyone else.

Here is the amazing thing. In Las Vegas, Nellis AFB is only about 15 minutes out of town. The president can land there but choose McCarran over and over; causing all the delays in my previous post. The only time he landed at Nellis was because his destination was closer to it. 2012 election season was tough on McCarran due to how much time he spent here campaigning.

That is narcissism.

Originally posted by ownbestenemy
Having intimate knowledge on this, I can tell you it is a pain. First, when Air Force One is on final (meaning they are ready to land), all airspace is cleared at a determined distance. On top of that, all ground traffic (baggage handlers, fuel trucks, airliners, etc) are halted. All runways are cleared and checked for FOD (foreign object debris) when AF1 is on its 5mi final.

It causes about 15 minutes of delay, but in the aviation world, 15 minutes is a lifetime and a ton of money. This isn't to even get into the nitty gritty; all maintenance is stopped (airliners, FAA, etc), ATC is stagnant, automobile travel around the airport is disrupted, resources are diverted to one man.....

Fifteen minutes, yes! So why, in this case, were people delayed for hours, I wonder? It really wouldn't surprise me to hear he did it just to be a royal pain.

Send the bill to The White House.......worth a try

CX.

When George W. Bush (Bush43) was here in town (Wilmington, DE) ... the newspapers and local news (all left wing) ripped him up and down complaining about traffic in town being snarled (it wasn't!) and how his visit disrupted the entire city (it didn't).

When Obama, Biden, and other democrat cabinet members were here in town for the funeral of Bidens mother ... NOTHING was mentioned in the newspapers or the local news about the massive traffic jams and disruption to the roads. All they talked about was how nice it was that they all came to town for the funeral.

Partisan B.S. rules the day.

reply to post by LadyGreenEyes


Well the "hours" claim can't be corroborated honestly. Such delays do have a cascade effect eventually in the day, but "hours" seems a stretch to me given each and every time AF1 landed in Vegas, it was a 15-20 minute delay with an "all-ground stop" issued.

For instance, at SFO, weather was reported as gust of 20mph (can cause delays if they are causing cross-winds, forcing a runway configuration change), steady rain (not too much a factor). Clouds and mist can slow departure rates and couple that with flight restrictions due to AF1 coming in, it snowballs. I am not condoning it or apologizing for it; just pointing out there are many factors involved here.

Originally posted by ownbestenemy
reply to post by LadyGreenEyes

 

Well the "hours" claim can't be corroborated honestly. Such delays do have a cascade effect eventually in the day, but "hours" seems a stretch to me given each and every time AF1 landed in Vegas, it was a 15-20 minute delay with an "all-ground stop" issued.

For instance, at SFO, weather was reported as gust of 20mph (can cause delays if they are causing cross-winds, forcing a runway configuration change), steady rain (not too much a factor). Clouds and mist can slow departure rates and couple that with flight restrictions due to AF1 coming in, it snowballs. I am not condoning it or apologizing for it; just pointing out there are many factors involved here.

Yes, there are, indeed, and it's possible this was exaggerated, but if it was that long, that would be a bit much. Wish there was some way to confirm or deny that timeline.

Originally posted by LadyGreenEyes

Originally posted by ownbestenemy
reply to post by LadyGreenEyes

 

Well the "hours" claim can't be corroborated honestly. Such delays do have a cascade effect eventually in the day, but "hours" seems a stretch to me given each and every time AF1 landed in Vegas, it was a 15-20 minute delay with an "all-ground stop" issued.

For instance, at SFO, weather was reported as gust of 20mph (can cause delays if they are causing cross-winds, forcing a runway configuration change), steady rain (not too much a factor). Clouds and mist can slow departure rates and couple that with flight restrictions due to AF1 coming in, it snowballs. I am not condoning it or apologizing for it; just pointing out there are many factors involved here.

Thought this thread got lost. I was there. It was about 3 hours. The airline (United) announced every once and awhile, Air Force one is in the area....still in the area..air traffic controllers still have not released any flights...and at 3 hours...air force 1 has cleared the area (or something to that effect), and we are going to begin boarding.... They were 3 or 4 flights behind schedule. There were a lot of upset people. Didn't know it was common. Not a bother to me since wasn't in a hurry but was astounded at the wait and inconvenience to others who did have firm schedules. Arrived at my destination 3 hours and 20 minutes later than was scheduled so a little over 3 hours but only about 3 could be blamed on Air Force 1.

Yes, there are, indeed, and it's possible this was exaggerated, but if it was that long, that would be a bit much. Wish there was some way to confirm or deny that timeline.

Originally posted by Dianec
Thought this thread got lost. I was there. It was about 3 hours. The airline (United) announced every once and awhile, Air Force one is in the area....still in the area..air traffic controllers still have not released any flights...and at 3 hours...air force 1 has cleared the area (or something to that effect), and we are going to begin boarding.... They were 3 or 4 flights behind schedule. There were a lot of upset people. Didn't know it was common. Not a bother to me since wasn't in a hurry but was astounded at the wait and inconvenience to others who did have firm schedules. Arrived at my destination 3 hours and 20 minutes later than was scheduled so a little over 3 hours but only about 3 could be blamed on Air Force 1.

Yes, there are, indeed, and it's possible this was exaggerated, but if it was that long, that would be a bit much. Wish there was some way to confirm or deny that timeline.

Being there would convince me! I will take your word for that. Can't see any reason to make something like that up, and really, not much would surprise me these days about some people. Three HOURS.....you have to wonder what they were doing.