We had the honor to greet President Barack Obama as he arrived by Air Force One to JFK Airport, before he hopped onto helicopters for events in Manhattan. After a security and check-in, we were escorted to a waiting area set up next to the tarmac. With a small group, even Secret Service joked at us (see photos below). The plane landed, Obama emerged, came down the staircase, and went directly to the audience spending time to say hello and shake hands with everyone.
According to an Untapped reader who wrote in, “the helicopters become ‘Marine One’ the moment POTUS steps aboard. and ‘Air Force One’ becomes SAM 28000. There are an identical pair of them, one acts as a decoy.”