papabear
05-01-2003, 12:04 AM
http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/04/30/bush.carrier.landing/index.html
ABOARD USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CNN) -- When President Bush arrives aboard this aircraft carrier Thursday, he will be sitting in the co-pilot's seat of a U.S. Navy aircraft.
The plane will make what is known as a "tailhook" landing, when the craft, traveling at about 150 mph, hooks onto a steel wire across the flight deck and comes to a complete stop in less than 400 feet.
Capt. Kevin Albright, the commander of Airwing 14 aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, said Bush will be equipped with an air sickness bag, but he doubts the president will need it.
"I suspect (with) his previous flight experience, he'll do just fine," Albright told CNN's Kyra Phillips aboard the carrier.
Bush was an F-102 fighter pilot in the Texas Air National Guard after graduating from Yale University in 1968.
There will be two experienced pilots aboard the Navy plane, helping bring Bush to the sailors. "We picked two mature pilots that also are very good landers," Albright said.
Albright said Bush could fly the plane en route to the carrier if he so desires.
"I imagine he will. He's an old fighter pilot," he said. "It shouldn't take a very long time, but I imagine if he wants to fly around a little bit, it'll take a little longer. We'll have a ready deck when he gets here."
The Navy and the White House have not disclosed what type of plane the commander-in-chief will fly in.
Bush will be traveling to the carrier to announce to the nation the end of major combat in Iraq, a speech he will deliver from the deck of the ship at 9 p.m. ET Thursday. (Full story)
Bush will fly to San Diego aboard Air Force One, before getting aboard what's being called "Navy One" for the flight to the carrier, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Wednesday.
Fleischer called it a "very exciting voyage, a very exciting trip."
"For the sake of the landing, I'm sure he will be doing no piloting," he said.
The ship's 5,500 sailors are excited about the presidential trip.
"It's a momentous occasion. I've been on eight deployments, and we've never had a president come out and welcome us home. So, it's a pretty big event for the airwing and the ship crew," Albright said.
The Lincoln, currently en route to San Diego, has been at sea for nine months after participating in both the Afghanistan and Iraq war theaters. The president is scheduled to spend the night on the aircraft carrier, which is based in Everett, Washington, but is stopping in San Diego first.
Fleischer said it will be more than 100 miles off the California coast at the time Bush addresses the nation.
"He will address the nation just as he did at the beginning of the combat," Fleischer told reporters. "He will address it now as the major combat operations have ended to mark the importance of this moment."
The address will not be a victory speech, and Fleischer said U.S. forces still face dangers from "pockets of resistance."
"It is not the legal end of hostilities," Fleischer said.
The Lincoln's flight deck spans 4.5 acres, and the ship can power enough electricity for 100,000 homes. Among the aircraft aboard the carrier is the F/A-18E Super Hornet, the Navy's sophisticated strike fighter.
ABOARD USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CNN) -- When President Bush arrives aboard this aircraft carrier Thursday, he will be sitting in the co-pilot's seat of a U.S. Navy aircraft.
The plane will make what is known as a "tailhook" landing, when the craft, traveling at about 150 mph, hooks onto a steel wire across the flight deck and comes to a complete stop in less than 400 feet.
Capt. Kevin Albright, the commander of Airwing 14 aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, said Bush will be equipped with an air sickness bag, but he doubts the president will need it.
"I suspect (with) his previous flight experience, he'll do just fine," Albright told CNN's Kyra Phillips aboard the carrier.
Bush was an F-102 fighter pilot in the Texas Air National Guard after graduating from Yale University in 1968.
There will be two experienced pilots aboard the Navy plane, helping bring Bush to the sailors. "We picked two mature pilots that also are very good landers," Albright said.
Albright said Bush could fly the plane en route to the carrier if he so desires.
"I imagine he will. He's an old fighter pilot," he said. "It shouldn't take a very long time, but I imagine if he wants to fly around a little bit, it'll take a little longer. We'll have a ready deck when he gets here."
The Navy and the White House have not disclosed what type of plane the commander-in-chief will fly in.
Bush will be traveling to the carrier to announce to the nation the end of major combat in Iraq, a speech he will deliver from the deck of the ship at 9 p.m. ET Thursday. (Full story)
Bush will fly to San Diego aboard Air Force One, before getting aboard what's being called "Navy One" for the flight to the carrier, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Wednesday.
Fleischer called it a "very exciting voyage, a very exciting trip."
"For the sake of the landing, I'm sure he will be doing no piloting," he said.
The ship's 5,500 sailors are excited about the presidential trip.
"It's a momentous occasion. I've been on eight deployments, and we've never had a president come out and welcome us home. So, it's a pretty big event for the airwing and the ship crew," Albright said.
The Lincoln, currently en route to San Diego, has been at sea for nine months after participating in both the Afghanistan and Iraq war theaters. The president is scheduled to spend the night on the aircraft carrier, which is based in Everett, Washington, but is stopping in San Diego first.
Fleischer said it will be more than 100 miles off the California coast at the time Bush addresses the nation.
"He will address the nation just as he did at the beginning of the combat," Fleischer told reporters. "He will address it now as the major combat operations have ended to mark the importance of this moment."
The address will not be a victory speech, and Fleischer said U.S. forces still face dangers from "pockets of resistance."
"It is not the legal end of hostilities," Fleischer said.
The Lincoln's flight deck spans 4.5 acres, and the ship can power enough electricity for 100,000 homes. Among the aircraft aboard the carrier is the F/A-18E Super Hornet, the Navy's sophisticated strike fighter.