Day +658 : Malaysia’s Air Force One

I am fine today.

My brother Richard forwarded to me his story about our Air Force One.

“Our Prime Minister with a group of ministers visited Sibu on the 9th February, 2008, about one month before the general election. They travelled to Sibu using Malaysia’s Air Force One and landed in Sibu airport safely. I heard that he and the gang visited Sibu for the sole purpose of attending the opening ceremony of a new Hall of Sekolah Elizabeth. Without much guessing, we can easily conclude that their motive of attending the small event was to campaign for the general election on 8th March 2008. Who care to take all the hassle to come to Sibu just for the opening ceremony of a school hall if not for the election?

The funny thing I noticed was that the Air Force One was still parked at Sibu airport on 13rd February, 2008. I saw it when I was in the departure hall on my way to Kuching from Sibu.

“Whose airplane is that?”, I asked the airport staff.

“Oh! This is belong to our Prime Minister.”

Due to some technical problem it couldn’t take off and our Prime Minister already took the Malaysia Airlines flight to return to Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, 10 February, 2008.

This is the first time I see our Air Force One but it looks like it has become another white elephant. Luckily the technical problem did not occur in the air; else the outcome would be unimaginable. “

The Air Force One parked at Sibu airport This is a clearer one taken from internet. It was at Kota Bahru airport
In fact, the airplane for the Prime Minister of Malaysia is not called Air Force One. It is called Perdana One, and if our King is aboard the plane, it is called DiRaja One.

The wikipedia has the following description about the plane:

Malaysia's Prime Minister and the Royal Family travel in a Boeing Business Jet operated by the Royal Malaysian Air Force with the serial number M53-01.The callsign of the plane is Perdana One (for the Prime Minister) or DiRaja One (if the King is aboard). The BBJ was purchased in 2003 from Malaysia Airlines who operated it with the registration number 9M-BBJ.

I have more confident on aircrafts of Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia. If you ask me to board the Air Force One, I would have second thought.

See you next post :-)