Air Speaker
Updated: to reflect new information on aircraft types
The Secret Service and House Sergeant at Arms want the Speaker to fly on military aircraft with secure communications and no intermediate stops. This is in response to 9/11 and recognition that the Speaker becomes the President if both the President and Vice President are unable, for any reason, to continue to serve.
This was the procedure when Republican Dennis Hastert was Speaker, and the House Sergeant at Arms, a Republican appointee, believes the practice should continue.
Rep. Hastert is from outside of Chicago, approximately 598 air miles from Washington, DC. Speaker Pelosi is from San Francisco, approximately 2449 air miles from Washington.
Rep. Hastert used a C-21A, a military version of the Learjet 35A, which is based at Scott AFB, in southern Illinois. Pilots have to be qualified in the aircraft they fly, so crews would either have had to deploy to Washington with their aircraft, or they were flying from Scott to Washington one day and then flying from Washington to Chicago and then back to Scott the next day. I assume they deployed two aircraft and associated personnel to Andrews AFB on a temporary duty [TDY] basis. The range on the aircraft is 2,300 miles and the Air Force is removing them from service.
The military gets to select the aircraft based on the mission requirements, available qualified flight crews, and aircraft availability. There are C-32s, military version of the Boeing 757, based at Andrews AFB as part of the VIP fleet, and they certainly have the range, but they are also the primary back-up aircraft to the two VC-25As, Boeing 747s, in the Presidential fleet, and are normally used by heads of executive departments on overseas missions. The Vice President, First Lady and Secretary of State generally use a C-32 for their trips as they normally travel with large staff and security contingents. There is also the somewhat smaller C-40, based on the 737, that is also used for VIP transport.
When the Air Force replaced their aging fleet of Boeing 707-based VIP aircraft including the VC-137s that were used as Air Force One, and the VC-135s that served for other VIP transportation, they bought a mix of aircraft, based on the 747, 757, and 737 that were designated VC-25A, C-32, and C-40 respectively. The VC-25As are limited to Presidential travel almost exclusively.
Speaker Pelosi will probably be assigned a C-20, the military version of the Gulfstream business jet. It has the range and capabilities required for the mission. They are based at Andrews AFB outside of Washington, and it is highly unlikely crews will complain about weekends in San Francisco.
I would expect that occasionally a C-32 or C-40 would be scheduled, as there is a need for courier flights between the coasts and military or other government personnel may be flying with the Speaker from time to time. This would be determined by the military, not the Speaker.
I would note that there are regular non-stop flights to San Francisco from both Dulles and Friendship, and Congress has given itself bottomless travel budgets for trips to districts, so this isn’t much of a benefit for Speaker Pelosi and complicates her transportation at the other end. If she didn’t go along, people would be complaining that she doesn’t take security seriously.
A warning to Speaker Pelosi, bring your own food and never touch anything in the fried chicken box lunch they would be happy to supply [you have to pay for it] on any military aircraft.
4 comments
They are searching for anything to complain about, anything to drag down the Democrats. We knew they would do this. Thank god Pelosi has a thick hide. She’s handling it really well so far.
Having been stationed at Ft. George G. Meade in Maryland, and in the Air Force, I had to go to Andrews a few times for Air Force Business. It is a lot easier to get to Dulles than Andrews for anything, and that was before the hysteria of 9/11. This is going to be a PITA for her unless they use the C-20 and use a general aviation airport near her home.
I saw the snippets (probably on CNN) from the DOD’s response to this issue…and that the craft is *subject to availablity*; *family members must pay for services and trips*; and that it must be a craft *suited to the mission* – which you point out is not 598 miles..but 2449 miles.
This is the typical BS from the GOP side of the aisle – the true tempest in a teapot as they HOWL like wolves at the Far away Moon…a banner waving umbrage to be taken up by every propaganda spewing part of their machinery.
The aircraft supplied to Hastert ought to give people a clue. They had to bring it and the crews in from Scott AFB which is down by St. Louis. The tax payers don’t want to know what a Washington, DC TDY and per diem costs, but the Air Mobility Command apparently felt it was cheaper to use the Learjets.
The Gulfstreams are replacing the Learjets because of age, noise, and fuel economy standards.
The non-stop feature isn’t just Pelosi. There are Air Force flying regulations that get involved. Depending on where the refueling stop took place, regulations might require a new crew for the Learjet. The military doesn’t like multiple take-offs and landings outside of war zones. I’ve wasted a lot of time because of those regs when flying because we had to divert to an alternate field because of weather at our primary.