"Air Force One" featured in this week's "West Wing Weekly" podcast. It's actually a call-sign allocated to any USAF plane the president happens to be in; not (necessarily) <b>that</b> 747.,(reply>), @Olivia P it's still guarded, just not as much.,(reply>), Reminds me of that movie starring Harrison Ford in which AF One was hijacked. When the president alighted on the rescue airplane the rescue airplane changed callsign.,(reply>), @Justin Noker Hi CPU,(reply>), @Piggy Sue so there's no protection if the president isn't on board? You'd think they would want to make sure the plane wasn't damaged/destroyed regardless. I imagine it's quite an expensive bit of hardware.,(reply>), @Nomystery22 Correct, it's simply "November one seven niner niner" or whatever the actual tail number is. You can also tell because there aren't any F-18 or other light fighter escorts, if you happen to see it fly by.