AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2015 - 12

LETTERS

FROM OUR DECEMBER 2014 ISSUE

Mr. Reagan's Airplane
Author Barry Schiff's story on the Reagan Library and how Air Force One landed on a
California mountainside elicited memories-and some criticism from our members.
That was a nice article about
President Reagan's Air Force
One, SAM 26000. Your story,
however, is incomplete. This
was not the first jet-powered
presidential aircraft, nor was it
the first 707. The first presidential jet plane was a specially built
Boeing 707-120 known as SAM
970 delivered in 1959. SAM 970
replaced President Eisenhower's
Super Constellation, the
Columbine II, and flew presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy,
Johnson, and Nixon. While the
newer Boeing VC-137C aircraft
described in the article entered
service in 1962, SAM 970 continued service in the presidential
fleet until June 1996. SAM 970
is now on permanent display at
the Museum of Flight at Seattle's
Boeing Field.
John W. Brantigan
AOPA 453846
Shaw Island, Washington

Barry Schiff responds: I never
said that the B-model 707s were
the first or only 707s used in presidential service. It was not my
intent to discuss or mention all
aircraft that served as Air Force
One. SAM 970, of course, was
a shorter, domestic model with
straight (non-fan) turbines.

DURING THE JOHN F. KENNEDY ADMINISTRATION IN 1962,
Boeing delivered the ﬁrst of two customized Boeing 707-353Bs to
the United States Air Force. It was officially designated by the Air
Force as a VC-137C and given the call sign SAM 26000. (SAM is
the acronym for Special Air Mission, and
26000 was the airplane's tail number.)

AFFECTING
THE COURSE OF

HISTORY

How SAM 27000-Air Force One-landed on a California mountaintop

THE RONALD REAGAN Presidential Library
sits atop a hill in Simi Valley, California
(inset). The president's gravesite is on
the west side of the complex so that he
is facing west toward the Paciﬁc Ocean
and the setting sun, per his request. The
90,000-square-foot exhibit hangar is the
permanent home of the Boeing 707.
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"The article on Air Force One was quite
interesting except for the laudatory tone
towards Reagan. He was only one of seven
presidents who used this aircraft. Yet in this
piece he got most of the publicity. Except as
they directly affect aviation, it is better to
keep politics out of this magazine."
Richard Weil
AOPA 3783046
St. Paul, Minnesota

"Affecting the Course of
History" was a very good article except for the error about
the "anomaly that occurred
on August 8, 1974, when Air
Force One departed Andrews
Air Force Base with President

37%

Rarely
29.4%

Never
Frequently

24%
9.6%

The results from the poll questions in Aviation eBrief do not
necessarily represent the views of pilots, aircraft owners, or AOPA
members and therefore should not be used for research purposes.
12 | AOPA PILOT February 2015

Nixon on board." This occurred
August 9, 1974, and was also the
date my wife, Catherine, and I
were married. We were probably taking our wedding vows
at the time President Nixon
was flying back to Southern
California 40 years ago.

issues with the regional industry ("Safety Pilot Landmark
Accident"). I know; I have
worked in the regional airlines
for the past 14 years.
Small communities did not
lose service because of a lack
of qualified pilots; Comair and
Colgan dumped thousands of
qualified pilots on the market
when they went out of business, and many of these pilots
went overseas or chose to leave
the industry. Low wages-that
do not allow for a quality of life
in many of the high-cost cities
crews are based-lead to commuting. Creating an efficient
commutable schedule is not in
the interest of the company, so
many regional pilots spend half
of their 11 days off a month traveling to and from work.
FAR 117 did nothing to
address this, nor does it change
regional pilots' obligations to
family and community. Look
for the regional industry to
offer ATP training to lure new
pilots to the industry, and a
new indentured servitude to
those that accept. They won't
attract the best talent until they
address wages and quality of
life-and the risk of another
3407 is still with us.
Capt. David Blackwell
AOPA 2929240
Yadkinville, North Carolina

Dennis Grandalski
AOPA 921334
Shorewood, Illinois

How often do you fly cross-country
at night in single-engine airplanes?

Occasionally

BY BARRY SCHIFF
P H OT O G R A P H Y B Y M I K E F I Z E R

Unintended
consequences

The fact that the crew of
Colgan 3407 flew an airworthy aircraft into the ground
cannot be disputed; however,
Bruce Landsberg's commentary misses on many of the

SAFETY PILOT LANDMARK ACCIDENT

Unintended
How Colgan 3407 changed the face of the industry
BY BRUCE LANDSBERG
I L LU S T R AT I O N B Y B R I A N H U B B L E

THE AFTERMATH OF MANY ACCIDENTS results in little change to the
system, although a few alter the face of the industry. This particular tragedy is
stunning for its simplicity in what happened-a basic airmanship failure. But
a long chain of events led up to that individual failure and showed that fundamental systemic transformation was needed. It also serves as an example of
how well-intentioned political pressure can lead to unintended consequences.

SUMMARY
> Captain apparently does not understand aircraft systems and
that the autopilot will pitch aircraft into an approach to stall
when at greatly reduced power.
> Sterile cockpit procedures were not followed so crew is distracted.
DIGITAL EXTRA

View an animation
of this accident.
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2015