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Egypt Independent
5 days ago
- Business
- Egypt Independent
Trump says Qatari jet could be ready for use as Air Force One in 6 months. Experts are deeply skeptical
President Donald Trump told reporters last month the donated Qatari jet could be ready for his use as Air Force One in February 2026, well ahead of the long-delayed delivery of two presidential planes from Boeing through a more traditional acquisition process. 'They say February,' Trump said in late July, when asked by a reporter when he expected to be flying on the new plane. 'Much sooner than the others. The others are being built.' But former Defense officials and aviation analysts express deep skepticism about how realistic that timeline is, citing the immense task of upgrading a foreign government's plane to meet Air Force One's distinct requirements and ensuring it is safe and secure for a president to fly on, especially internationally. Andrew Hunter is a former assistant secretary of the Air Force under the Biden administration. He oversaw an annual budget of more than $54 billion for hundreds of acquisition programs, including Air Force One. He thinks it would be 'challenging, if not impossible,' to complete the jet in that timeframe without Trump waiving some of the requirements that typically need to occur before a president can fly on a new plane. 'It would not be possible to replicate all the capabilities of an Air Force One on (the donated jet), on any time frame shorter than what they're doing with (the Boeing program),' he said. Beyond the timeline concerns from an aviation perspective, the plan to use a donated Boeing 747-8 from Qatar poses a lot of questions and has drawn bipartisan scrutiny. Many are skeptical of the legality and ethics of accepting such a gift. Others are worried about the threat to security, based on how much goes into a jet fit for the leader of the United States. But Trump remains undaunted and continues to project optimism about the timeline. 'We'll get this one a year-and-a-half, two years earlier (than the Boeing planes),' the president told reporters in late July. The contracted jets continue to undergo renovations in San Antonio. The Qatari plane was previously parked in the city as well while awaiting upgrades, but open source aircraft tracker ADS-B Exchange shows the jet flew to Fort Worth Alliance Airport on June 29. The plane has rarely popped up on the open source tracker since then, with it last being recorded in late July at the Texas airport. Too soon? Refurbishments on commercial jets that don't have the strict and complicated requirements of Air Force One can take weeks or months depending on how much work needs to be done and the age of the aircraft. For example, according to aviation website Simply Flying, certain maintenance checks involving the complete disassembly of a plane are done every six to 12 years. That comprehensive inspection typically takes between three to six weeks. But security concerns mean what the Qatari plane needs to undergo is even more arduous than that disassembly, experts say, and is very likely to take longer. This February 15, 2025 photo shows a Boeing 747 on the tarmac of Palm Beach International airport after US President Donald Trump toured the aircraft. Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images The plane can be ready by February, said Richard Aboulafia, a managing director at boutique aerospace and defense management consultancy AeroDynamic Advisory, but not with the capability or security that an Air Force One needs, raising the possibility that the administration may plan to cut corners in order to deliver it in that timeframe. 'It is absolutely going to be ready to start flying in February,' Aboulafia said, 'and instantly transmitting every onboard conversation to anybody around the world who has a connection to it.' 'It's very different from stripping a plane down and inspecting it,' Aboulafia said. 'Very different – overhauling systems, overhauling engines, doing what you need to do to get the plane operationally ready. That's an extremely different job than scanning it for security risks, very different.' Retrofitting and installing the required security and communications equipment on a second-hand plane from another government, even a friendly one, is a monumental task, CNN has reported. US spy and security agencies tasked with the overhaul will need to essentially strip the aircraft down to its frame and rebuild it with the necessary equipment. The more changes made to the plane itself, said Frank Kendall, the Air Force secretary under the Biden administration, the more that will need to occur to ensure that it meets air-worthiness requirements, taking longer. 'There's a chance Trump will never get this airplane no matter what,' Kendall, who now does consulting work, said. However, Kendall, echoing other experts, said the donated jet could be ready in February, 'if the president waives almost all Air Force One unique requirements and minimizes modifications to the airplane.' 'It would probably result in a plane that would only be used inside the US,' he said. The White House and the Air Force did not respond to a request for comment. It's not clear where the upgrade process currently stands, and the experts CNN spoke to have not seen the jet in person. In early July, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his Qatari counterpart signed an agreement outlining the terms of the jet's 'unconditional donation,' CNN previously reported, although the terms have not been formally announced. An addendum to the agreement reviewed by CNN last month said the Air Force 'is in the process of finalizing the transfer of registration and will immediately begin execution of the required modifications.' New Air Force One a long time coming Conversations about replacing the decades-old planes currently used by the president began years ago under former President Barack Obama. Momentum began picking up under the first Trump administration when he struck a deal to purchase two existing aircraft from Boeing, but the addition of a plane donated by the Qatari royal family has added a strange and some say concerning twist to the saga. In 2018, Boeing confirmed it received a $3.9 billion contract for two new presidential planes. By 2022, the president of the United States was supposed to be in a new plane. A Boeing 747-8, one of two that had originally been ordered by a now-bankrupt Russian airline and later earmarked for an Air Force One replacement project, is seen parked at Victorville Airport in Victorville, California, U.S., March 26, 2019. Mike Blake/Reuters/File But that timeline also didn't pan out, leading Trump to find an alternative. When the president announced he planned to accept a jet from Qatar, it raised a lot of eyebrows. Several Republican senators expressed misgivings about the idea, noting the potential for security and legal risks. Trump's plan for the plane to go to his presidential library upon leaving office raised additional ethical concerns. And while Trump has said it would be stupid to turn down a 'free, very expensive airplane,' officials say renovating the jet could cost hundreds of millions of dollars. When asked how much it would cost to retrofit the new plane, Trump deflected. Officially, the price tag to retrofit the Qatari plane for use by the president is classified, but Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told lawmakers in June that it will 'probably' cost less than $400 million. 'That's up to the military. I really don't know. I haven't been involved,' Trump said last month. 'It's their plane, it's, you know, the Air Force,' he said. 'They'll be spending that amount of money.' The Air Force is looking to fund the upgrades by transferring hundreds of millions of dollars from the vastly overbudget Sentinel program to an unspecified classified project, sources familiar with a congressional notification about the transfer previously told CNN. Sentinel is a land-based intercontinental ballistic missile system that is being developed to replace the US' aging Minuteman III missiles. Boeing's jets in San Antonio still hold promise Boeing's contract to replace two Air Force One jets had an original delivery date of 2022 – but now the planes are potentially expected by 2027, a timeline that would deliver them while Trump is still in office. It's one to two years earlier than Boeing had most recently predicted, after a global pandemic, supply chain issues and other problems stalled production and the company incurred losses totaling $2.5 billion on the program. Hunter, the former Air Force assistant secretary, argues one of the biggest design challenges of the program is finishing interior design work on the aircraft. In 2021, Boeing fired GDC Technics, which was hired as a subcontractor to design and build the interiors of the new planes, and later sued the company, citing delays. GDC Technics countersued and later filed for bankruptcy. Boeing declined to comment on where the interior work stands. While the Qatari jet will require a major overhaul to ensure its safety, security and operability as it carries the president, the new Boeing jets are following the more traditional route, made in the United States by a well-known manufacturer. And Aboulafia sees promise in the troubled company, which is trying to turn a corner. 'Everything is kind of turning around,' Aboulafia said. 'They just had the second clean quarter for their defense unit, which was amazing … I have a much higher level of confidence in all of their programs, really, as a consequence of the management changes.' Delivering the planes in the next two years – which Darlene Costello, the Air Force's acting acquisition chief, suggested was possible during her testimony before House lawmakers in May – would mark a significant acceleration for the project. 'I would not necessarily guarantee that date, but they are proposing to bring it in '27, if we can come to agreement on the requirement changes,' Costello said, referring to contract requirements that are being loosened to get to that earlier date – such as the Air Force 'relieving' Boeing of some of the top-clearance security requirements for workers performing work on the aircraft, which has also been blamed for some of the delays. Kendall, the former Air Force secretary, said at the forefront of the minds of those working on a new plane, should be safety and security, rather than cost or speed. 'As Defense Department acquisition executive, I was responsible for both Marine One and Air Force One,' Kendall said. 'Over the years, the people that set the requirements for these aircraft and that work at the White House are not constrained by time or money unless directed otherwise by the president. They're constrained by their imaginations about which scenarios might occur in which they might need something to support or protect the president. Those 'requirements' dictate both cost and schedule.' CNN's Alejandra Jaramillo, Natasha Bertrand, and Chris Isidore contributed to this report.
Business Insider
26-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Bill Gates and Kylie Jenner's private jets among those flooding into Venice ahead of Jeff Bezos' wedding
Kim Kardashian 's Gulfstream G650 touched down at Marco Polo Airport on Thursday morning, according to flight-tracking data from ADS-B Exchange. The G650, which costs about $65 million, departed Los Angeles 10 hours earlier. Khloe Kardashian and Kris Jenner were also photographed with her in Venice, boarding a water taxi, before they met Orlando Bloom and the fashion designer Domenico Dolce. Kardashian attended Snchez's bachelorette party in Paris last month, which included a boat ride down the Seine. Kylie Jenner's Bombardier Global 7500 arrived from Budapest around 3:30 p.m. local time, soon followed by Bill Gates ' G650, which came from Brussels. Earlier in the day, Oprah Winfrey 's G700 also landed in Venice, per ADS-B Exchange. Business Insider's reporter in Venice saw Winfrey and the broadcaster Gayle King boarding a boat by the airport. The NFL legend Tom Brady was also pictured at the dock around noon, shortly after a charter jet arrived from Miami, and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt's Gulfstream G650 landed about 1:30 p.m. local time. Another G650, which JetSpy says is owned by James Murdoch, the son of the media mogul Rupert Murdoch, landed in Venice on Thursday, too. So did another jet belonging to hedge fund billionaire John Griffin. Plus, Queen Rania of Jordan arrived on a government G650. Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel and his wife, fashion designer Sarah Staudinger, were also photographed arriving. They appear to have traveled on a Global 6000 owned by Endeavor Group Holdings, of which Emanuel is CEO. Endeavor's executive chairman, Patrick Whitesell, is Snchez's ex-husband. Bezos, who is one of the world's richest people and is worth just over $230 billion, owns three planes, according to JetSpy. Two aircraft — the G700 and a G650 — have been hopping around the Mediterranean in recent days. They were both parked across the Adriatic Sea in Dubrovnik on Thursday. Bezos and Snchez kicked off their pre-wedding celebrations on Tuesday with a foam party on his $500 million superyacht, Koru, parked just off the Croatian coast. Tuesday also saw the first pictures of guests at the Venice airport, including Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. Fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg's G500 landed about midday, and she was photographed at the water taxi dock. A Bombardier Global 7500 owned by her husband, the Fox cofounder Barry Diller, arrived in Venice at about noon on Wednesday, per ADS-B Exchange data. Rising activity "Jeff Bezos' wedding this week in Venice is likely to draw an influx of bizjets to nearby airports," said WingX, an aviation data firm. It added that business-jet activity had already "risen significantly," with 33 arrivals into Venice and nearby Treviso on Sunday, almost double from a week earlier. Data from Flightradar24, which doesn't display most private-jet arrivals for privacy reasons, showed five large business jets were scheduled to land on Thursday. That's compared with two on Wednesday, one on Tuesday, and none on Monday.
Business Insider
26-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Private jets are starting to flood into Venice as celebrities and titans of business arrive for Jeff Bezos' wedding
Celebrities and their private jets have started landing in Venice ahead of the celebrations for Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez's wedding. Kim Kardashian 's Gulfstream G650 touched down at Marco Polo Airport on Thursday morning, according to flight-tracking data from ADS-B Exchange. Khloe Kardashian and Kris Jenner were also photographed with her, boarding a water taxi. The G650, which costs around $65 million, departed Los Angeles 10 hours earlier. Kardashian previously attended Sánchez's bachelorette party in Paris last month, which included a boat ride down the Seine. Then, around 10 a.m. local time, Oprah Winfrey 's G700 also landed in Venice, per ADS-B Exchange. Business Insider's reporter in Venice saw Winfrey and broadcaster Gayle King boarding a boat at the airport. A G650, which JetSpy data says is owned by media mogul James Murdoch, son of Rupert, landed in Venice on Thursday, too, as did another jet belonging to hedge fund billionaire John Griffin. Bezos, the world's fourth-richest person, owns three planes, according to JetSpy. Two of them, the G700 and a G650, have been hopping around the Mediterranean in recent days. At the moment, they're both parked across the Adriatic Sea in Dubrovnik. Bezos and Sánchez kicked off their pre-wedding celebrations on Tuesday with a foam party on his $500 million superyacht Koru, parked just off the Croatian coast. Tuesday also saw the first guests land in Venice, including Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. Fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg's G500 landed around midday, and she was photographed at the water-taxi dock. A Bombardier Global 7500 owned by her husband, the Fox cofounder Barry Diller, arrived in Venice around noon on Wednesday, per ADS-B Exchange data. Data from Flightradar24, which doesn't display most private-jet arrivals for privacy reasons, showed five large business jets were scheduled to land on Thursday. That's compared to two on Wednesday, one on Tuesday, and none on Monday. The Guardian reported that more than 90 private jets are expected to land in Venice before the celebrations begin.
New York Times
27-04-2025
- General
- New York Times
Missteps, Equipment Problems and a Common but Risky Practice Led to a Fatal Crash
As they flew south along the Potomac River on the gusty night of Jan. 29, the crew aboard an Army Black Hawk helicopter attempted to execute a common aviation practice. It would play a role in ending their lives. Shortly after the Black Hawk passed over Washington's most famous array of cherry trees, an air traffic controller at nearby Ronald Reagan National Airport alerted the crew to a regional passenger jet in its vicinity. The crew acknowledged seeing traffic nearby. One of the pilots then asked for permission to employ a practice called 'visual separation.' That allows a pilot to take control of navigating around other aircraft, rather than relying on the controller for guidance. 'Visual separation approved,' the controller replied. The request to fly under those rules is granted routinely in airspace overseen by controllers. Most of the time, visual separation is executed without note. But when mishandled, it can also create a deadly risk — one that aviation experts have warned about for years. On Jan. 29, the Black Hawk crew did not execute visual separation effectively. The pilots either did not detect the specific passenger jet the controller had flagged, or could not pivot to a safer position. Instead, one second before 8:48 p.m., the helicopter slammed into American Airlines Flight 5342, which was carrying 64 people to Washington from Wichita, Kan., killing everyone aboard both aircraft in a fiery explosion that lit the night sky over the river. One error did not cause the worst domestic crash in the United States in nearly a quarter-century. Modern aviation is designed to have redundancies and safeguards that prevent a misstep, or even several missteps, from being catastrophic. On Jan. 29, that system collapsed. Hillcrest Heights MARYLAND Plane path WASHINGTON Blue Plains Last recorded locations Helicopter path 313 feet 278 feet Reagan National Airport Plane was headed to Runway 33 Potomac River Control tower VIRGINIA Aurora Highlands MARYLAND Plane path WASHINGTON Last recorded locations Blue Plains Helicopter path 313 feet Potomac River 278 feet Plane was headed to Runway 33 Reagan National Airport Control tower VIRGINIA Aurora Highlands WASHINGTON Plane path Last recorded locations Helicopter path Potomac River 313 feet 278 feet Reagan National Airport Control tower Plane was headed to Runway 33 VIRGINIA Sources: U.S. National Transportation Safety Board Report; Flight data by Flightradar24 (American Airlines jet) and ADS-B Exchange (Army helicopter); aerial image by Google Earth Studio with data from SIO, NOAA, and U.S. Navy. By The New York Times At an altitude of 200 feet within the designated route, helicopters fly at 75 feet below airplanes approaching Runway 33. This vertical separation decreases if helicopters are farther from the eastern bank of the river. 800 feet Flight 5342's last recorded position 600 400 MARGIN Safe approach area 200 Helicopter route Runway 33 Potomac River ¼ mile At an altitude of 200 feet within the designated route, helicopters fly at 75 feet below airplanes approaching Runway 33. This vertical separation decreases if helicopters are farther from the eastern bank of the river. 1,000 feet 800 600 Safe approach area 400 MARGIN 200 Helicopter route Flight 5342's last recorded position Potomac River ¼ mile About ½ mile to Runway 33 Source: Flightradar24 and FAA By The New York Times Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CBC
08-03-2025
- Politics
- CBC
We logged every RCMP Black Hawk flight for 6 weeks. Here's what we found
Social Sharing After weeks of near-daily flights, the RCMP's much-hyped Black Hawk helicopters have been used to stop one illegal border crossing from the U.S. into Canada since patrolling began in January, according to the RCMP and analysis by CBC News. The national police force leased the choppers as part of Ottawa's $1.3 billion border security upgrade, following U.S. President Donald Trump's initial threat to impose tariffs on Canada if it didn't do more to stem the southward flow of migrants and fentanyl. CBC's visual investigations unit analyzed all the flights taken by the choppers — which use the tail registrations C-FHKS and C-FHLY, visible in footage — over six weeks. Using the flight tracking website ADS-B Exchange, the team logged 68 flights between Jan. 17 — when patrolling officially began — and Feb. 28. The team looked primarily at flights along the border, and excluded those that appeared to be for transit or refuelling. It was not possible, based on the data, to determine exactly how the choppers were being deployed. The RCMP repeatedly declined to share specifics with CBC News, but said the Black Hawks give the force a "rapid response capability" for the roughly 9,000-kilometre Canada-U.S. border. The RCMP also would not offer any specifics on the Black Hawks' involvement in stopping migrants or fentanyl entering the U.S. Still, it was possible to spot trends. The choppers were in the air for just under four hours at a time on average, mostly in the daytime, and made multiple stops at different airports along their route, which often encompassed long stretches of the border. Across the country over the same period, the RCMP stopped 15 people trying to cross illegally from the U.S. in three separate operations. In only one case was a Black Hawk involved. According to the RCMP, leasing the Black Hawks from Ottawa's Helicopter Transport Services cost taxpayers $5.3 million — part of an effort to mollify Trump and avert the tariffs. It has been, to a degree, "border security theatre" said Wesley Wark, senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, a think-tank in Waterloo, Ont. "We're putting up hardware into the skies, Black Hawk helicopters, we're putting up 24/7 surveillance on the border," he said. "It's designed to appease the United States." Tracking the illegal border crossing On Feb. 23, C-FHKS took off from Carp Airport, near Ottawa, at around 8:49 a.m. ET, according to flight tracking data. At around 9:21 a.m., it was just east of Cornwall approaching the border between Quebec and New York state, flying at under 800 feet. C-FHKS had previously, over a period of several weeks, made approximately 21 flights in and around this border area. But what made this day stand out was, for the first time in six weeks, that Black Hawk was apparently deployed in an illegal crossing operation. Flight tracking data became unavailable at around 9:25 a.m., but just after 10:30 a.m. the chopper re-emerged — heading northeast toward Saint-Jean Airport in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. CBC News can't confirm whether this was exactly when it was involved in the operation, but RCMP said in a statement that a Black Hawk was called in that morning to help search for migrants in the woods for a rescue that lasted nearly eight hours. RCMP also said that 20 police officers were involved in arresting two people who were attempting to smuggle five others near the Canada-U.S. border crossing around Hinchinbrooke, Que., overnight. The five people were suffering from hypothermia, the release said. The driver and alleged smuggler were arrested. The latter was released on a promise to appear in court and will face charges, according to the RCMP. Flight patterns Flight trends also showed the Black Hawks patrolling borders in B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick. C-FHKS stayed primarily in Eastern Canada, going between Ontario and New Brunswick. The bulk of its flights were along the border between Quebec and New York state. C-FHLY mostly monitored the Prairies and the West Coast, with 16 of its patrols following the Manitoba-North Dakota border. The Black Hawks aren't the only part of the RCMP border surveillance arsenal: It also uses drones, surveillance planes and surveillance towers. The force announced in February that it arrested migrants crossing the border illegally on Jan. 14 with the help of a surveillance plane, and released dramatic thermal footage from the operation. More operations are expected as part of the $1.3 billion package to bolster border security. But the choppers, both of which are more than 40 years old, have become the most visible and flashiest parts of this plan and they have security experts wondering: Why Black Hawks? And why now? "It's not clear to me that aerial surveillance is the greatest challenge that we face at the border, in part because the United States already runs very rigorous aerial surveillance across and along the entire border," said Christian Leuprecht, professor at Royal Military College of Canada and Queen's University.
