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Experts fear that the infection puts hundreds of people who travel, operate and maintain “the flying White House” at risk, threatening not only a highly recognizable icon of the United States, but also the smooth running of a key security tool. National security used to evacuate the president in a crisis.
Experts have warned that during the pandemic, the unique airflow dynamics in the confined cabin of an airliner, even one as large as the Boeing 747-200, known to the military as a VC-25, could put unmasked passengers risk contracting the deadly virus.
“Social distancing is much easier on Air Force One than on any commercial airplane,” said Professor Yan Chen of Purdue University, a researcher who studies the airborne spread of coronavirus inside an airplane. Chen said most passengers do not sit in tight lines aboard the highly modified multi-room plane, “but complete isolation is very difficult.”
Chen said that the air aboard large aircraft, including commercial aircraft and Air Force One, is typically filtered through high-efficiency particulate air filters, or HEPA, which are designed to trap most particulate matter. . The result is that the air, even in large aircraft, is completely replaced every few minutes.
Commercial airlines insist that air filters make flying on an airplane safer than sitting in a shared room in a building. But it does not eliminate the risk of contracting the virus when a contagious passenger is on board.
“If you have a patient on a plane, the drops that this patient exhales could be carried on the plane,” he said.
The White House said the 747 typically used as Air Force One (the term can refer to any plane that carries the president) has “4,000 square feet of space on three levels, including a spacious president’s suite that features a large office, bathroom and conference room. ” CNN reporters who have flown on the plane say the president’s quarters are near the nose of the jumbo jet with a conference room above the wings. It is unclear where Hicks was abducted on board.
“Each of them is necessary to support a president and ensure his safety and security, so any vulnerability or disease in that system will have an impact,” said Juliette Kayyem, CNN national security analyst and former Department of Homeland Security. . official.
The current situation likely means that army and other agency officials “will have to resort to their layoffs and backup systems,” he said, like having another group of pilots ready.
“The president has asked us to think about worst-case planning due to his own negligence regarding Covid,” Kayyem said.
“It’s more troubling than it might initially sound,” said Kenneth Walsh, who flew Air Force One more than 200 times in his decades as a reporter for US News and World Report and author of the 2004 book “Air Force One: A History of the presidents and their plans “.
Walsh stressed that Hicks was seen without a mask on the president’s plane and that “there would have been many opportunities for her to be in contact” with other people who had not been wearing one.
“If I was on a plane, even if it was Air Force One, I would wear a mask,” Purdue’s Chen said.
Walsh stressed that Air Force One commissioners (United States Air Force personnel who take pride in their work) would have no doubt been monitoring Hicks, potentially exposing them to the virus.
The 89th Airlift Wing of the Air Force operates Air Force One, as well as other aircraft used to carry VIPs from Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington, DC, in Maryland. It said in a statement that it follows the guidelines of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the event of exposure to Covid-19.
“The 89th Airlift Wing has established safety procedures for daily operations that incorporate public health guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and frequent COVID-19 testing of flight crew members. Air Force One personnel. In the event that any Air Force One personnel are exposed, become symptomatic or test positive, the 89th Airlift Wing would follow the guidelines established by the CDC, “the statement said.
Walsh noted that “it is very rare that something negative is associated with Air Force One.”
“Air Force One is a very special place, it has become a symbol of the presidency,” he said.
