FAQ

While U.S. President James Marshall (Harrison Ford), his wife Grace (Wendy Crewson), and daughter Alice (Liesel Matthews) are returning from a diplomatic dinner in Moscow, Air Force One (their jet) is hijacked by a group of Russian "ultranationalist radicals" led by Ivan Korshunov (Gary Oldman). Although escorted safely to his escape pod, the President sneaks back into the plane and secretly works to defeat the terrorists, while Vice President Kathryn Bennett (Glenn Close) is forced to deal directly with Korshunov who vows that he will execute one hostage every half-hour until their demands are met.

Air Force One is based on an original screenplay written by American screenwriter Andrew W. Marlowe. The enormous success of the film spawned a novelization, also titled Air Force One (1997), by American mystery writer Max Allan Collins. Though the book has the same central plot and outcomes as the film, its main storyline differs significantly.

"Air Force One" is designated as the air traffic control sign of any USAF aircraft carrying the President of the United States.

No real AFO 747 was used as it would be too expensive to use the real plane and have in stunts and explosions so the director decided to use a stunt double. To get everything right, director Wolfgang Petersen requested permission from the United States government to have access to the plane as well as the United States military equipment. At first, the White House wasn't going to allow the filmmakers access to the real Air Force One. A phone call from Harrison Ford persuaded the administration to change its mind. Finally, President Bill Clinton granted Harrison Ford, director Wolfgang Petersen and a large part of the crew aboard the plane where they all took a tour of the real Air Force One before filming. They based some of the film's scenes, where the terrorists disguised as journalists survey the plane's layout and begin to take their seats, on the touring experience. The character of Deputy Press Secretary Melanie Mitchell was based largely on their real life tour guide, and the crew felt uncomfortable having to film the character's execution by the terrorists. For the exterior scenes, the producers rented a Boeing 747-212B aircraft, N703CK from Kalitta Air and repainted it to replicate the iconic Air Force One livery (later painted with fake bullet holes in the tail). Flying scenes were done with CGI. In the photo here taken on September 30th, 1996 at LAX, you can see it in the Air Force One livery. Interior scenes of the aircraft were done in a studio set. According to IMPDb, the VC-25A is seen throughout the movie with the main action scenes being based around it. This is obviously not one of the actual ones but a very good representation. Registration N703CK, c/n 19727/54 built in 1970, rented from American International Airways, precursor to Kalitta Air. Previously flew for Japan Air Lines as JA8103. In the photo here, where it's parked at Moscow waiting for the President, notice the lack of a bulge on the nose just below the cockpit where the real aircraft would have a mid-air refueling point as well as some antennas. Nonetheless, planespotters at LAX were completely fooled by the aircraft in it's repaint that they actually thought the President was in town, not actually realising that it was a movie being filmed.