david

That reminds me of a story of my own. In the fall of 1999, just a month or two before George W. was elected to his first term, I was a student pilot preparing for my check ride and flying out of Austin Bergstrom (KAUS.) Then-President Clinton had flown in earlier to give a speech or something but this was before the time of the all-encompassing presidential TFRs, as I recall there was only a small TFR or maybe just a ground stop during the time that the President was actually arriving or leaving. Since the President’s motorcade had already left the airport, it was operating normally.

Anyway, as I was rolling to take off on runway 17L, the tower called with a traffic warning. “Cessna 52Y, be advised your traffic is a Boeing 747, touch and go on the parallel.” I turned my head to the right just in time to see Air Force 1 — well, not officially since the President was not on board — touch down and almost immediately take off again on 17R.

“Traffic in sight, pretty hard to miss!” I responded to the tower, as Air Force 1 headed around for another T&G.

I figured that the pilots must have assumed they’d be coming to Texas a lot if Bush won, and were getting in some local practice! Anyway, that’s the first and last time I’ve ever seen a 747 doing a touch and go. I hate to think how much every circuit around the patch was costing us taxpayers!