Interesting...
As were were flying around that morning, the President's doctor, Air Force Colonel Richard Tubb, worried that we might be subject to some sort of biological attack. He gave everyone an envelope with cipro, an antibiotic. 
The instructions said to take as directed. Communications Director @Danbartlett6, swallowed the entire contents of his envelope. Dr. Tubb had to research how dangerous that might be. I'm glad to report Dan is still with us.
@danbartlett6 We took off at 9:55 for Washington. At 10:10, we changed course and flew in a random pattern in the sky until we knew where we were going. At 10:20, the decision was made to land at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.
@danbartlett6 11:29 Two F-16 fighter aircraft join Air Force One as our escort in the sky. All planes were supposed to be grounded, but just in case, they were there. Here's a picture of the staff looking out the window upon spotting the F-16s:
@danbartlett6 Just before landing at Barksdale, Col. Tillman reported an unidentified aircraft was heading straight toward AFOne. "“There’s a guy coming off New Orleans, looks like New Orleans, and he’s coming off and he’s climbing right at us, he’s coming right up at us," Tillman later said.
@danbartlett6 Tillman says he has instructed one of the F-16s to head out to locate and identify the aircraft, and, he says, if the aircraft is “not a friendly, he’s gonna go ahead and splash him.”
@danbartlett6 It turns out it was a Lear jet, flown by the only guy who didn't know what was going on that day.
He was both the dumbest and luckiest guy around. How he got permission to take off, I still don't understand.
He was both the dumbest and luckiest guy around. How he got permission to take off, I still don't understand.
@danbartlett6 As we were landing at Barksdale, I told the press where we going but asked them not to report our location and to remove the batteries from their cell phones in case we were being tracked. The press agreed.
@danbartlett6 Just as I said it, the plane's TVs showed Air Force One live landing at the base. Local TV crews were there to cover a B-52 drill and they spotted Air Force One coming in. So much for maintaining secrecy.
@danbartlett6 11:45 We landed at Barksdale. Base officials were told by Col. Tillman to prepare for a plane with "distinguished guests" flying code alpha, meaning top priority. He didn't identify the plane as AFOne. They learned it only when we landed.
@danbartlett6 Here's a great source for what happened at Barksdale:
historycommons.org/context.jsp?it…
historycommons.org/context.jsp?it…
