Flights Of Fancy

Wondering how much it's costing us taxpayers to fly that Kenyan around the country endlessly?

Now you can figure it out yourself, from a report submitted March 2006, based on GAO records based on fiscal year 2000 :

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THE COST OF PRESIDENTIAL AND VICE PRESIDENTIAL POLITICAL TRAVEL
UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM — MINORITY STAFF
SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS DIVISION
MARCH 2006

PREPARED FOR REP. HENRY A. WAXMAN

… This report assumes that flight operating costs are $56,518 per hour for Air Force One . These figures are based on the per-hour cost figures cited by GAO for fiscal year 2000, adjusted for inflation.

According to the Congressional Research Service, the President’s domestic travel also involves the use of accompanying cargo planes.

This report assumes one cargo plane accompanies the President on each trip at an operating cost per hour of $6,960. This figure is based on the per-hour cost cited by GAO for fiscal year 2000 for the C-17 cargo plane, adjusted for inflation…

The President flies on a VC-25. General Accounting Office, Presidential Travel: DOD Airlift Cost for White House Foreign Travel, Appendix I, at 10-11 (Aug. 2000) (GAO/NSIAD-00-209).

The VC-25 plane has a speed of 630 miles per hour. Air Force, Fact Sheet on VC-25 – Air Force One (online at http://www.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?fsID=131)…

According to the Air Force, the C-17 flies at 450 knots, which converts to 518 miles per hour. Air Force, Fact Sheet on C-17 (online at: http://www.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.aspfsID=86)…

The flight time for presidential travel to campaign-related events was calculated by dividing the total miles traveled by the President by the cruising speed of Air Force I.

Distances were determined using two Internet-based distance calculators:
http://www.indo.com/cgi-bin/dist and http://www.mapcrow.info/.

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Our suspected non-constitutional president spent the Valentine's holiday in Chicago, flying back to Washington to give yet another speech, and then back to Chicago, and then back to Washington.

According to the above calculations, his Valentine's day jaunt to Chicago cost us - Using the above very conservative figures - Air Force One cost $214,768 and the cargo plane cost $32,140. For a grand total of $246,908 for Mr. Obama’s two round trips to Chicago... for Valentine's day.

And this endlessly babbling Kenyan has flown dozens of trips already, most much further than Chicago.

Seems he spends more time out of Washington than in, and more time on AF1 than at his desk in the Oval Office. Even so, just look at the looming disasters he has already been able to set into motion.

Three years and eight months more of this guy... mind boggling.