Filed by Bil at 12:11 pm under Damn Hippies, Fightin' Words, Politics

According to the LA Times, “The Pentagon is open to the idea of European firm Airbus building the next fleet of planes that carry the president.”

Foreign maker of next Air Force One? That may not fly

If this were to become the reality, that would be like the President cruising around in a Mercedes-Benz or BMW limo instead of a good old-fashioned Cadillac limo.

Ordinarily, I don’t care about buying American vehicles over foreign vehicles; Devon and I bought a Scion instead of a Saturn or Ford because, simply stated, they are better cars. I’m not even a very good Capitalist, but I agree with the idea that better foreign cars should inspire American automakers to step it up. And, on a personal level, I kind of hate the new Cadillacs and the way they brand themselves nowadays (snotty-brat nouveau-riche market).

…But the President of the United States flying around in a French airplane? That’s not cool.

Now look, I am no Neo-Con. I don’t like to decry every little thing as unpatriotic. I’m one of those who says dissent is patriotic.

And yet, I am not as comfortable with the thought of an Airbus being Air Force One. I prefer the big-ass Boeing over the even-bigger-ass Airbus because Boeing is a symbol of American might, American ingenuity, American pride, and other American stuff. It doesn’t matter if the Airbus is larger, the 747 could still kick its ass in a boxing match.

But if more size and newer technology is what all the kids like, then shit – let’s get Boeing to pick up that blended-wing concept again and start making the 797! There was a rumor going around a couple years back that Boeing was looking into making a massive “flying wing” style passenger aircraft. According to TruthOrFiction.com, this turned out to be only a rumor:

Summary of the eRumor:
The story says that the Boeing Company is developing a radical new passenger jetliner that will carry 1,000 passengers. It’s designated the 797 and is a “blended wing” design looking a lot like the old flying wing experiments of the 50’s.
The Truth:
TruthOrFiction.com went straight to the source, the Boeing Company. A spokesperson said that it is not true that Boeing is developing a commercial blended wing aircraft. He asked that we help stop the perpetuation of the story.

What is true, according to Boeing, is that Boeing Phantom Works, the company’s advanced research and development organization, is doing research on the blended wing body design as a potential military aircraft. Boeing has built a scale model to test its low-speed flying characteristics in a wind tunnel. There are also plans (as of 7/13/07) to flight test a scale model.

Military aircraft, eh? That would work for the Commander-In-Chief. I’d buy that. Come on, Boeing! Nose to the grindstone, let’s have the president take one of those around the world!

Obviously, this photograph is fake (what the hell city is that supposed to be, anyway?) but wouldn’t that be a sweet Air Force One? I’d be quite okay with that. Theoretically, its passenger-aircraft design would have held 1,000 passengers – that’s 200 more than the Airbus A380. Suck it, Europe! It would supposedly also have far greater fuel efficiency. Suck it twice, Europe!

I don’t know – it may not be that big a deal. If I have no problem with individual Americans (myself included) driving foreign automobiles, perhaps it shouldn’t matter if the President flies a foreign aircraft.

Then again, it’s also okay to feel like the office of the President should be a symbol of the best the USA has to offer, especially when traveling. So I think I’m going to stick to my initial reaction on this one…keep Air Force One American!

I wanted to send an e-mail to Roland Burris, but it’s pretty hard to find his office’s e-mail address. I found their actual mail address, but I don’t want to spend more than 40 cents to comment on this airplane thing.

Whatever.