SNA: Can it handle a 747?
 

I heard on the radio today that El Presidente was in Irvine giving a speech, and of course my first thought was, "Can AF1/747s land at SNA?" Or did W have to take a motorcade from LAX, ONT, or LGB?

I know this is an airliners.net type question... but they scare me :p

Nope, they flew the small plane in 757-200, I Do believe.
I thought AF1 was Nikes' new shoes

Got a nice shot of it on final from the 12th floor of the Hyatt ^

Nice.. please post that up when you get the chance!

I actually drove around SNA on my way home from work today, just to have a looksee. Didn't see anything. But it would be awesome if one could see the 747 land while driving on the 405.

I wonder if there's as many complaints about flying in the 757 Presidential "SlaveShip" :)

SNA and a 747-200B. Yikes
 

Just a few facts.

SNA is about 5700 Feet long. Runway 19R
Weight max is 152K pounds

Airforce 1 is a 747-200B
Going to guess the weight at around 700K pounds
loaded at T/O.
Max on the spec is 800K pounds.
It wants 10K feet. I think the 747-200 min spec is 6500
But the Presidents is a bit on the heavy side.

If you do see a 747 on approach over the 405.
Avoid the golfcourse and the toll road.
Its going to get ugly back there.

Well, on the day he flew into SNA, Air Force 1 was reportedly a 757-200, and had no trouble with the short runway.

ROTFL ^ ^ ^

Perhaps it would be a softer landing in the Back Bay, though. Can just see the wildlife scattering...

Airforce 1 is a "call sign"
 

Explanation:

Whatever aircraft the President of the United States is on
is given the radio call designation "Airforce 1".

757 is OK at SNA. Its a heavy.
Just as long as the GA stay far behind it.

Its not a Jumbo like a 747.

As far as a 747 at SNA
I agree with the previous post. Forget the golfcourse and toll road.
Its headed for Back Bay. Yeeha. What a landing.

A question:
Have there been any times when G.W. used the 737-700 (whatever the military designation for the a/c is) for his trips to places?

Presidents 737-700
 

Its a Military C40B
Here is a pic
http://www.airplanesuperstore.com/DTc40b.JPG
I assume its the replacement for the aging 757.
Not sure if Bush has used it yet ?

More specifically, a USAF aircraft.

If a 777 can go TIJ-NGO, a 747 can go from SNA

:D

I think SNA is too small for a 747.

In any case, when the Prez visits Orange County he generally lands at the well-guarded Los Alamitos military airfield which is about 5 mi E of LGB.

I think a 747 would've landed quite easily at El Toro :p

Yes, it would have, unfortunately the NIMBY's had their way.

A 747 wouldn't work at SNA, the runway is too short. An A300 is the largest jet that lands at SNA.

Well, it's closed, right? What are they going to do with the land?