Spend a day on Air Force One at new museum

OXON HILL, Maryland (WISH) — It’s been said one of the best perks of being president is having access to your own private 747. 

A new museum near Washington, D.C., is giving people a chance to see what it’s like to fly on Air Force One. 

It’s a plane unlike any other, a 747 equipped with a private office, bedroom and conference center. But, this isn’t Air Force One, it’s a replica that’s a public museum on the National Harbor in Maryland. 

“Its taken more than two years to put this together,” asid Vicki Bendure with Air Force One Experience.

She said the museum was designed to entertain kids and adults.

“It’s great for people who are interested in planes. It’s also great for anyone who’s interested in the history of how presidents have traveled.” 

A time-lapse video shows how the project began. The 747, which at one time flew for Pan American World Airways, was stripped, repainted, rebuilt and moved.

Moving it was not easy task. Crews spent months planning a way to get the plane from Rhode Island to Maryland. 

The plane no longer flies, so it went by sea on a barge to its parking spot just about 10 minutes from where the real Air Force One is kept, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. 

Guests who pay from $10-$20 will see the plane close-up and inside out. 

In the section of the plane that would be the press cabin, the creators of Air Force One Experience left the skin exposed to give people an idea of what a 747 really looks like. 

Toward the front of the plane, guests can get a peek at what the president’s quarters are like. 

Bendure said, “People love to get on here and take selfies and send them to their friends and say, ‘Here I am, on Air Force One.’” 

Outside the plane, guests can get close to the moving turbines without getting hurt. 

While it’s only a replica, the Air Force One Experience ensures everyone, not just the elected, have a chance to see the flying White House.