The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Presidential and Executive Airlift Directorate recently led a joint Air Force-Boeing team that completed maintenance on a VC-25A (tail number 29000) well ahead of schedule.

Commonly known as Air Force One, the VC-25A provides safe, reliable transportation that allows the President of the United States to fulfill the functions of his job anywhere in the world.

The team completed numerous Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness directives, including the installation of the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) and Identify Friend or Foe Mode 5 system, which provides pilots better situational awareness.

What was originally estimated to take 50 days was completed in only 28 days, returning the critical asset to the Presidential Airlift Group – which operates the aircraft in support of Presidential travel.

“We were able to get the maintenance done quickly by maximizing opportunities to accomplish concurrent work and utilizing highly-skilled VC-25A Boeing personnel,” said Randy DeWitt, Chief, VC-25A Lifecycle Integration Team at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma.

“To say the team did fantastic is an understatement,” added Brig. Gen. Ryan Britton, Program Executive Officer, Air Force Presidential & Executive Airlift Directorate. “By leaning forward and completing depot work on the most important airplane in the world 22 days early, the team demonstrated true resilience during the backdrop of a national emergency.”

SOURCE: AIR FORCE MATERIEL COMMAND