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When Air Force One finally flies, it will have six lavatories, not counting the President's own. There will be two galleys, 85 telephones, a six-channel stereo, a 6-cu.-ft. safe for secrets and a television system that will pipe in eight channels at once and enable the President to scan waiting crowds before he emerges. The plane will include four computers, two copying machines, conference rooms, crew bunks, sleeper chairs, a pressroom with TV monitors, and secure phone lines that can rouse Dan, Peter and Tom from any place on the earth and 45,000 ft. up.
This jet will be ready for tragedy. The ceiling of the President's bedroom will be designed for two intravenous hookups. A working annex can be converted to a minihospital with tie-down hardware for a casket. One of the doors on the main cabin level will be sized for the turning radius of a coffin.
These special requirements created their own delay. The jet has 57 antennas for its huge array of electronic gear. Normal is 17. The plane's 238 miles of wire is more than twice that in a commercial version. The big delivery delay occurred when Boeing engineers in Wichita, after installing most of the wiring, were worried about electromagnetic interference in such a thicket. They pulled 20% of the wiring out, went on overtime and rerouted the cables. With all the fancy equipment on board, the Federal Aviation Administration imposed special safety requirements that added to the burden. And almost everybody else with an interest in the plane -- Secret Service, National Security Agency, Signal Corps, White House advance teams, First Lady's office -- did some fiddling with the layout.
At this point one cannot help wondering if the Government could not have pulled a couple of Boeing 767s off the line at about $75 million a copy ($25 million less than a 747), fixed them up a bit (a 767 has 75% more capacity than the old 707) and had the President airborne in plenty of comfort and safety (the Air Force refused to look at any plane with only two motors). Or maybe they should have considered Delta -- ready when you are.