Gov't. is shut down, but DJT's 'spensive gifted jet now sits at a Waco, TX, airfield

[allegorical oracle]

The Qatari super-luxury jet that President Donald Trump wants to be converted into a temporary Air Force One is now in Waco, the latest stop in a secretive tour of Texas airfields as the military hustles to ready the craft for service.

snip

The 13-year-old jumbo jet arrived in early August at the L3Harris Technologies Inc. facility at Texas State Technical College Waco Airport, according to flight tracking services.

Now registered as N7478D, the future presidential plane came from Fort Worth Alliance Airport where it had been since the end of June. Before that, the craft, which was previously registered as P4-HBJ, spent nearly three months at San Antonio International Airport.

snip
(emphasis mine)
The cost to revamp the airliner with security and communications upgrades to make it safe for the president has been estimated by various sources to be between $400 million and $1 billion. That bill is going to the Air Force, which has said it intends to siphon leftover funds from its Sentinel nuclear missile program to pay for the retrofit.

https://www.expressnews.com/business/article/trump-qatar-luxury-airliner-air-force-one-waco-21125510.php

[lapfog_1]

1. 1% of providing food for people that need it in the US

The total federal government expenditure on SNAP was about $100.3 billion in fiscal year 2024

And apparently the Air Force can find that "spare change" in the couch cushions.

[allegorical oracle]

2. Two Boeing jets also are in production for possible 2027 delivery

(May 9, 2025)
The long-delayed new Air Force One jets from Boeing might now be delivered as soon as 2027. While that’s still years behind the original delivery date of 2022, it’s two years earlier than Boeing had recently predicted back in February. President Donald Trump had expressed anger at the delays, but this new delivery schedule would ensure he could use the new aircraft before the end of his term.

snip

Both aircraft have been at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio for conversion since 2019. The project has experienced extensive delays due to various factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic, Boeing's widely-reported production issues, supply-chain delays, and the complexity of the modifications. Boeing has acknowledged that it is already $2 billion over budget on the fixed-price contract.

(Those probably will go to Rubio and Bessent.)

https://simpleflying.com/boeing-proposes-747-8-air-force-one-delivery-2027/

[Diamond_Dog]

3. Oh that's just great. Now ICE Barbie will want two of them!

[ForgedCrank]

4. It's a "secrative tour",

yet we know the tail number, we know where it is and where it's been and for how long, and it can all be easily tracked.
Makes sense i guess?

[allegorical oracle]

5. Got the impression that the tail number has been changed at least once. The jet

has been in this country since at least Feb or March of this year, but haven't seen much publicity.

[ForgedCrank]

6. Registration tail

numbers change when re-registered in a different country and ownership changes. The registration system in each country is different, they don't all share the same system.
We probably haven't heard much because it's probably just sitting and being assessed. There's a butt load of paperwork involved in certification and everything such as checking all AWD's, serial numbers and maint records just to name a couple. It's a laborious and boring process.
Someone is also likely assembling a BOM for the conversion, the project has to be setup and organized. It's a lot to do even before the actual conversion works begins. This thing won't see flight in AF1 trim for a very long time, and Trump will probably be long gone by then

[allegorical oracle]

9. Interesting. In the piece I posted about the two Boeing jets in production, I didn't include that

one delay has been due to difficulties in finding Boeing employees with a high security clearance. It's being debated whether they will bother with those clearances.

Fingers crossed that *he* will be long gone when the jet's delivered. Guess it will go straight to his library??

[RedWhiteBlueIsRacist]

7. Allah Force One. A name that will piss off Trump & his Magats.

[ananda]

8. It's being converted into a temporary AF1 in Texas.

This is much more imiportant than people being
able to get food.