It has been in the news that Pres. Bush will be visiting SW Florida and I would love to go see Air Force one in person. Anybody have any ideas as to how close I can get to the plane or if they have roads blocked off? Also, if anyone knows around what time he will be coming in that would be good to. Thanks!
The actual route he will take from the airport to wherever he is going will be blocked off maybe a 1/2 hour before arrival and really screws up traffic so get where you need to be early before they shut it down. As far as how close you can get, well it would help to know where they will park at the airport and get on that side. It will usually be out of the way so chances are you won’t get too close or get a real good look at it.
Last time he came to MSY I was at the house and listenend on the scanner as he was coming in. There were 1 or 2 military helicopters hovering near the airport checking everything out and once AF1 got in range, all other aircraft got re-routed way out of the way. Didn’t hear anybody get near W and nobody got approach, landing or takeoff clearance til he was on the ground and parked. There is sometimes a press plane that flies behind AF1 and at that time, it was JetBlue 320 with a 4400 series flight number so maybe you could look for the press plane as that will be the only bird that can be tracked.
Just a sidenote for the matter. We have had Marine One come in for refuel. We are not allowed anywhere under the rotor. They refuel it themselves, we just stand outside the rotor area(where the truck is parked anyways) and work the switches.
When he flew in to KSEA, they stopped all traffic around the airport well before his arrival, including air traffic (it was eerily quiet just before he arrived).
Its a very good idea to get there at least 2 hours early. The security personnel were very gracious to the spotters that positioned themselves for his arrival. Some were around 200ft from the runway. When the plane was in sight, the police officers told us we had to stay where we were until it had landed so they could keep an eye on us. Each cluster of spotters essentially had one officer “assigned” to them, they just arrived, stayed with us until the motorcade passed, then left.
But we were never hassled or told we couldn’t take photographs.
http://photos.bahneman.com/Planespotting/2007/August_27_2007/tn/crw_1123.med.jpg
Even lucked out with a crowd-free, unobstructed view of the motorcade:
http://photos.bahneman.com/Planespotting/2007/August_27_2007/tn/crw_1132.med.jpg
Liembo, that as one of the coolest pics I have seen of AF1, great shot!
The motorcade shot is a cool one to. I like how the 1st limo has a passenger side blue strobe illuminated, and the 2nd limo has a driver side red strobe illuminated. Very cool indeed!!
HC
I happened to be in Ft Myers, Florida on business last week and when I went to get lunch I saw an interesting picture in the sky: Two large helicopters followed by three CH47s The flew over Page Field then headed west over Ft Myers beach and then I lost them. Didn’t have my camera with me and no time to stop and look but it was an interesting sight
AF1 pics can be tough. A few years ago I was at my favorite spotting area waiting for the big one to come in. About ten minutes prior to its arrival, two SS guys in a black Suburban pulled up and told me it was time to go. They were polite but firm…I thought it would be best to comply, so no pics that day. 
MIA a few years ago. I do work at the airport.
Best thing is to lok at www.faa.gov and look for the TFR page and find the area your in,it will post times when TFr starts and stops,also look at KADW Andrews Afb on flightaware,the Press plane always leaves before AF 1 and you will need to get there before they do,when AF 1 is inbound you will know it,there is a 10 mile no fly zone when they are inbound to airport and MArine choppers and other security personal will be in the area,last year when he appeared here at a nuclear plant,they also had CAP up with F-22 Raptors overhead.
Back in 1992 when George H came to Bakersfield, I was able to a personal tour of Marine ONE with his pilot. We got to tour the C5 that hauled the Helos, the C141 that brought the limo and communication truck. The Marines of the HMX Squadron had a mini px going where I bought some HMX branded golf balls, Tee shirts, and caps and what a bunch of good guys. How things have changed sine September 11th. Now you can’t even be outside at the airport when either AF1 or AF2 comes to town.
Danny
You can, you just have to know where to be coughKW Plasticscough. Then again, for me it was mostly luck because I was hanging out over there that day.
True, True… Since you were outside of the AOA 
For those of us working inside the AOA, not so lucky. I’ll have to post some pictures from 1992.
Danny
Get real… who’s going to trouble D. Cheney after they saw his shotgun skills?
46 or so years on, the Ray Loewy design still looks great. Best-looking 747 ever.