Agrupación Aérea Presidencial

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The Agrupación Aérea Presidencial (Spanish for Presidential Air Group) is the Head of State Air Transport Unit of Argentina.

1 Background
2 Aircraft
- 2.1 Former Aircraft
3 Trivia
4 Incidents
5 References

[edit] Background

A small fleet of aircraft and helicopters is used for the President, family, and senior government officials. In spite of the aircraft belonging to the Argentine Air Force, this unit is under the administration of the Casa Militar ("Military House"), the department responsible for presidential security and transportation. Nevertheless, civilian pilots were also used in this unit during the current administration.

The aircraft has a white with blue lines colour-scheme resembling the Argentine Flag.

[edit] Aircraft

The main aircraft is the Boeing 757 known as Tango 01 after its military registry: "T-01" (the "T" stands for "Transport", pronounced "Tango" in the NATO Alphabet). The 757 entered in service in 1995 replacing the former T-01; a Boeing 707.

The 757 as Tango 01 has been since the last decade object of political contention (even a political campaign topic during the 1999 Presidential elections), since many politicians and media commentators decry the aircraft as an unnecessary luxury; while others point out that the plane has been used by several presidents, their families, friends and political allies for non-official purposes.

The current Presidential fleet also includes two Fokker F28 (T-02 and T-03), being one of them always on service, a Learjet 60 (T-10) and a Rockwell Sabreliner (T-11), being last 2 also used by the Chief of the General Staff of the Air Force.

Two helicopters, a Sikorsky S-70 (H-01) and a Sikorsky S-76 (H-02) are the primarily used choppers, but Bell 212s are also available.

[edit] Former Aircraft

The Argentine Air Force used several models througth the years as Tango 01:

Boeing 707-320C
Fokker F-28 Patagonia
FMA IA 50 Guaraní II
Avro 748
Rockwell Aero Commander 680
Vickers VC.1 Viking
Douglas DC-3

Helicopters:

Sikorsky S-61R
Sikorsky S-58T
Sikorsky S-55 and Sikorsky S-51, although not officially part of the AAP where used by the President while in serving for the Air Force

[edit] Trivia

August 26, 1985: Former President Raúl Alfonsín was launched from the Argentine Navy aircraft carrier ARA 25 de Mayo on a Grumman S-2 Tracker number 0702/2-AS-23.

[edit] Incidents

September 19, 1993: with former President Carlos Menem onboard, an Air Force CH-47 Chinook went down while visiting Pozo de Mortero near Las Lomitas in Formosa Province without any casualties (but the poor house where the helicopter crash)

April 1, 1998: again President Menem had a critical moment, this time aboard T-01 when hard winds crossed while landing at Wellington during a state visit to New Zealand

August 1, 2003: current President Nestor Kirchner had an emergency landing when was onboard the Salta province Bell 407 helicopter.

October 19, 2004: Tango 01 made a successful emergency landing at the military airbase of El Palomar soon after taking off at Aeroparque Jorge Newbery in Buenos Aires when one of its engine caught fire. The engines were taken to Israel for a complete overhaul and the aircraft return to service mid 2005. In the meantime, two chartered Boeing 747s operated by Aerolineas Argentinas served the Presidential transport role when traveling abroad, and when the 757 was back into service, President Néstor Kirchner continue to using the 747s for his long travels officially due its extended range.