All abt AIR_FORCE ONE

United States President George W Bush, for his visit to India and Pakistan, leaves Washington on Tuesday on a Boeing Air Force One aircraft.
The presidential air transport fleet, one of a kind, consists of two specially configured Boeing 747-200B's modified to meet presidential requirements.
When the President is aboard either aircraft, or any Air Force aircraft, the radio call sign is 'Air Force One'. Principal differences between the VC-25 and the standard Boeing 747, other than the number of passengers carried, are the state of the art navigation, electronic and communications equipment, its interior configuration and furnishings, self-contained baggage loader, front and rear air-stairs, and the capability for in-flight refueling.

While on the aircraft, the President and his staff have access to a full range of services, including communications systems, secure and non-secure voice, fax and data communications, along with access to photocopying, printing, and word processing.

The 'flying Oval Office' has 4,000 square feet of interior floor space, including a conference room, and living quarters for the President and the First Lady and can accommodate 180 people.

The living quarters for the President include an executive suite consisting of a stateroom (with dressing room, toilet and shower) and the President's Office. A conference/dining room is also available for the President, his family and staff. Other separate accommodations are provided for guests, senior staff, the secret service and security personnel, and the media.

Two galleys provide up to 100 meals at one sitting. Six passenger toilets are provided in addition to a rest area and mini-galley for the aircrew.

The aircraft also has an office that doubles up as a medical facility when necessary, fitted with medical equipment and supplies for minor medical emergencies. It is fitted with multi-frequency radios for air-to-air, air-to-ground and satellite communications.

The colours on the first Air Force One VC-137C were selected by former President John F Kennedy's wife, Jacqueline Kennedy. The 707s served as Presidential aircraft until they were
replaced by 747-200s designated VC-25 in 1990.

According to White House sources, the special aircraft to carry the US President and his delegation was first created in 1944. Former president Franklin D Roosevelt called for the creation of the Presidential Pilot Office and a C-54 -- dubbed the Sacred Cow -- was put into service for Roosevelt.

For most of the next 20 years, various four-engine propeller-driven aircraft were used for Presidential air travel.
Then came the Independence, a DC-6, which transported former president Harry S Truman from 1947 to 1953.
Former president Dwight D Eisenhower used the Columbine II and Columbine III from 1953 to 1961.
The call sign Air Force One was first used in the 50s and president Kennedy's VC-137 (Boeing 707) was the first aircraft to be popularly known as Air Force One.
In 1962, a C-137C specifically purchased for use as Air Force One, entered into service with the tail number 26000. It is perhaps the most widely known and most historically significant Presidential aircraft.
Tail number 26000 is the aircraft that carried former president Kennedy to Dallas, November 22, 1963, and returned the body to Washington, DC, following his assassination.
Lyndon B Johnson was sworn into office as the 36th president on board the aircraft at Love Field in Dallas.
This fateful aircraft also was used to return Johnson's body to Texas following his state funeral January 24, 1973.
In 1972 president Richard M Nixon made historic visits aboard 26000 to China and to the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republic.
Tail number 26000 was retired May 1998, and is on display at the US Air Force Museum, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.
Tail number 27000 replaced 26000 and carved its own history when it was used to fly former presidents Nixon, Ford and Carter to Cairo, Egypt, October 19, 1981, to represent the United States at the funeral of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
The first VC-25A -- tail number 28000 -- flew as Air Force One on September 6, 1990, when it transported president George Bush to Kansas, Florida and back to Washington, DC.
A second VC-25A, tail number 29000, transported Clinton, Carter and Bush to Israel for the funeral of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The VC-25A will usher Presidential travel into the 21st century, upholding the proud tradition and distinction of being known as Air Force One.
Historically, several US presidents have flown on Boeing aircraft.
In 1943, president Franklin D Roosevelt flew to Casablanca aboard a Boeing model 314 Clipper. In 1962, Boeing introduced US presidents to modern jet transportation with the introduction of the Boeing model 707-320B.
In all, seven presidents were served by the 707-320B. Today, the chief executive flies aboard a specially configured 747-200B, the newest and largest presidential airplane.
Its capabilities include: longer range for presidential travel, aerial refueling and self-sufficiency at airports around the world.
These aircraft are flown by the Presidential Airlift Group, and are assigned to Air Mobility Command's 89th Airlift Wing, Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. - UNI

Dhirubhai gave management a whole new 'ism'

A G Krishnamurthy in New Delhi | February 03, 2006 06:06 IST - Apprearedin Business Standard

Dhirubhai Ambani was no ordinary leader. He was a man who gave management a whole new "ism".

There is a new "ism" that I've been meaning to add to the vast world of words for quite a while now. Because, without exaggeration, it's a word for which no synonym can do full justice: "Dhirubhaism".

Inspired by the truly phenomenal Dhirubhai H Ambani, it denotes a characteristic, tendency or syndrome as demonstrated by its inspirer. Dhirubhai, on his part, had he been around, would have laughed heartily and declared, "Small men like me don't inspire big words!"

There you have it - now that is a classic Dhirubhaism, the tendency to disregard one's own invaluable contribution to society as significant.

I'm sure everyone who knew Dhirubhai well will have his or her own little anecdote that illustrates his unique personality. He was a person whose heart and head both worked at peak efficiency levels, all the time. And that resulted in a truly unique and remarkable work philosophy, which is what I would like to define as Dhirubhaism.

Let me explain this new "ism" with a few examples from my own experiences of working with him.

Dhirubhaism No 1: Roll up your sleeves and help. You and your team share the same DNA. Reliance, during Vimal's heady days had organized a fashion show at the Convention Hall, at Ashoka Hotel in New Delhi.

As usual, every seat in the hall was taken, and there were an equal number of impatient guests outside, waiting to be seated. I was of course completely besieged, trying to handle the ensuing confusion, chaos and protests, when to my amazement and relief, I saw Dhirubhai at the door trying to pacify the guests.

Dhirubhai at that time was already a name to reckon with and a VIP himself, but that did not stop him from rolling up his sleeves and diving in to rescue a situation that had gone out of control. Most bosses in his place would have driven up in their swank cars at the last moment and given the manager a piece of their minds. Not Dhirubhai.

When things went wrong, he was the first person to sense that the circumstances would have been beyond his team's control, rather than it being a slip on their part, as he trusted their capabilities implicitly. His first instinct was always to join his men in putting out the fire and not crucifying them for it. Sounds too good a boss to be true, doesn't he? But then, that was Dhirubhai.

Dhirubhaism No 2: Be a safety net for your team. There used to be a time when our agency Mudra was the target of some extremely vicious propaganda by our peers, when on an almost daily basis my business ethics were put on trial. I, on my part, putting on a brave front, never raised this subject during any of my meetings with Dhirubhai.

But one day, during a particularly nasty spell, he gently asked me if I needed any help in combating it. That did it. That was all the help that I needed. Overwhelmed by his concern and compassion, I told him I could cope, but the knowledge that he knew and cared for what I was going through, and that he was there for me if I ever needed him, worked wonders for my confidence.

I went back a much taller man fully armed to face whatever came my way. By letting us know that he was always aware of the trials we underwent and that he was by our side through it all, he gave us the courage we never knew we had.

Dhirubhaism No 3: The silent benefactor. This was another of his remarkable traits. When he helped someone, he never ever breathed a word about it to anyone else. There have been none among us who haven't known his kindness, yet he never went around broadcasting it.

He never used charity as a platform to gain publicity. Sometimes, he would even go to the extent of not letting the recipient know who the donor was. Such was the extent of his generosity. "Expect the unexpected" just might have been coined for him.

Dhirubhaism No 4: Dream big but dream with your eyes open. His phenomenal achievement showed India that limitations were only in the mind. And that nothing was truly unattainable for those who dreamed big.

Whenever I tried to point out to him that a task seemed too big to be accomplished, he would reply: " No is no answer!" Not only did he dream big, he taught all of us to do so too. His one-line brief to me when we began Mudra was: "Make Vimal's advertising the benchmark for fashion advertising in the country."

At that time, we were just a tiny, fledgling agency, tucked away in Ahmedabad, struggling to put a team in place. When we presented the seemingly insurmountable to him, his favourite response was always: "It's difficult but not impossible!" And he was right. We did go on to achieve the impossible.

Both in its size and scope Vimal's fashion shows were unprecedented in the country. Grand showroom openings, stunning experiments in print and poster work all combined to give the brand a truly benchmark image. But way back in 1980, no one would have believed it could have ever been possible. Except Dhirubhai.

But though he dreamed big, he was able to clearly distinguish between perception and reality and his favourite phrase "dream with your eyes open" underlined this.

He never let preset norms govern his vision, yet he worked night and day familiarizing himself with every little nitty-gritty that constituted his dreams constantly sifting the wheat from the chaff. This is how, as he put it, even though he dreamed, none of his dreams turned into nightmares. And this is what gave him the courage to move from one orbit to the next despite tremendous odds.

Dhirubhai was indeed a man of many parts, as is evident. I am sure there are many people who display some of the traits mentioned above, in their working styles as well, but Dhirubhai was one of those rare people who demonstrated all of them, all the time.

And that's what made him such a phenomenal team builder and achiever. Yes, we all need "Dhirubhaisms" in our lives to remind us that if it was possible for one person to be all this and more, we too can. And like him, go on to achieve the impossible too.