A6-MMM Dubai Air Wing 747-400 here now 7/31 4:40P

[Chuck Slusarczyk Jr.]

Unfortunately, we weren't able to give a head's up on this one because of its untrackable nature, but it's here now so it's fair game!  It came in around 3:30 and is parked on the A concourse next to their BBJ2 which came in last night.  Don't know why it's here, but we can probably assume Cleveland Clinic...and I don't know when it's leaving, but catch it if you can!

http://www.opshots.net/gallery2/index.php?page=photos&id=10267

P.S.  Special thanks to the "little birdie!" ;-)

[all4golf]

Damn I really wish I had some notice of this.

Curious, if you knew about it why couldn't you share?

[Phoenix6]

Is it still here?

[Chuck Slusarczyk Jr.]

Yes, as far as I know, it's still here...maybe you can get some night shots.  The heat haze should fade away soon!

 As for why I couldn't say anything, we try to refrain from announcing certain things that aren't public knowledge and can be thought of as "insider information".  There are certain times when those of us who work at the airport will know of something coming, or have specific times for things like the arrival of Air Force One that we just can't announce for "security reasons".  The Dubai 747 I only heard of from "a little birdie" who heard it from another "little birdie", so I wasn't even sure it was coming, but I did get suspicious when I saw them driving a wide body loader over to the A concourse yesterday!

As a governmental aircraft, it is blocked from all tracking sites and is also considered a "VIP Movement", so even if I had solid information I couldn't have shared it.  Sorry!  Once it's here, well...you can't hide it so it's fair game!

In the future, I may be able to word things in an ambiguous enough way to give a head's up without giving anything away...we'll see!

[all4golf]

Alright.

AOPA sends me emails when the president is coming to Ohio or the surrounding states, AF1 isn't the most "secure" information.

[Phoenix6]

Anyone know if it's still there and maybe a departure time?

[Chuck Slusarczyk Jr.]

I don't know if it's still there or not today...got lucky enough to have the day off again!

And yeah, everyone knows when the POTUS is coming to down, but not the exact hour and sure, anyone can listen to the radios and hear it on approach, etc. , but generally, if something doesn't appear on FlightAware but we know about it, we are supposed to use discretion when posting those things.
The way it was explained to me by Hopkins security was that, in the (extremely) unlikely event something should happen on approach to CLE and they can point to OPShots as the sole source of the information, we would come under some undue scrutiny which personally, I would like to avoid.  It's a CYA sort of thing.
I would welcome anything that can be backed up with an outside source, but I don't want the site to be caught with its pants down, so to speak.

[all4golf]

Ah okay.  The TFR's for AF1 show when it's active and after a certain amount of time after starts, give or take a few minutes, it arrives like clockwork so basically it could be pinpointed to a five minute window at least from my experience.

I guess I'll stop posting that kinda stuff now.

[Chuck Slusarczyk Jr.]

Exactly!  That's the kind of stuff that can be posted...that's public knowledge and we can't get into a problem posting that sort of thing, especially if sources are stated or better yet, linked to!

[707guy]

Good explanation Chuck - and as of about 1330 the 744 was still here.  It's parked on the pad in between the A concourse and the Expressjet hangar.

[dimoko]

I would like to say that my fiancee scheduled the perfect time to pick the menu for our wedding, we finished, i drove over to say hi to chuck, and 4 minutes later there she was, perfect timing!

and thanks chuck for reassuring my fiancee that i am not the ONLY plane spotter in the world and that other "normal" people do it...

[Chuck Slusarczyk Jr.]

Who are you calling "normal?"     I never claimed that!  Anyway, yes, it was good to see you the other day, and nice to meet your fiancee as well.  If she didn't run away after she saw how excited we got over a big piece of flying metal, I'd have to say she's a keeper!!     
And I neglected to thank you for your donation as well while I was there...mea culpa!  So...THANKS!!!

[SonicIce]

rode my bike up to aerospace parkway from the metroparks and saw it chillin way over across the airfield. it was about 8:45 pm or so.