Agrupación Aérea Presidencial

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

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.

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), 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.

All these aircraft are normally based at the military sector of Aeroparque Jorge Newbery or at El Palomar Air Force base.

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

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
* Learjet 45

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
* Sikorsky S-70

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.

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.

*April 1, 1998: again President Menem had a critical moment, this time aboard T-01 when it performed a hard landing due to strong crosswinds at Wellington during a state visit to New Zealand

*August 1, 2003: President Nestor Kirchner had an emergency landing when was on board 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 engines 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 continued using the 747s for long travel, due to its extended range.

References

*es icon [http://www.clarin.com/diario/1998/04/02/t-01201d.htm New Zealand accident] in Clarin newspaper
*es icon [http://www.clarin.com/diario/2003/08/02/p-00315.htm Bell 407 accident] in Clarin newspaper