Air Force One pilot set for final mission - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Air Force One pilot set for final mission

President George Bush’s last day in office is also his pilot’s last day in the cockpit of the president’s airplane.

When Bush flies home to Texas on Tuesday, it will mark the final mission for his chief pilot, Col. Mark Tillman. Because Bush no longer will be president, the Boeing 747 will not fly with the call sign Air Force One.

“As President Bush's pilot, I have seen history being made from my perch up in the cockpit of the VC-25,” Tillman wrote in a commentary about his years as the president’s pilot. “I commanded AF-1 on Sept. 11, 2001, brought our president and his staff into various war zones on numerous occasions and have been honored to be part of the Air Force One team.”

For Tillman, the complexity of the Thanksgiving 2003 mission to Baghdad stood out.

“In September of 2003, I was tasked by the president to take him Baghdad to have Thanksgiving dinner with the American servicemen and women,” Tillman recalled. “His direction was that no one could know he was out of the country and his arrival into the combat zone must be a surprise to all. The president's concern and additional requirement was that no servicemen could be injured as a result of his being in country.

“The crew and maintainers were told just prior to takeoff the details of the mission,” the colonel said. “The American servicemen and women on the ground in Baghdad had no idea that the president was about to arrive, but what is significant is that all executed their jobs perfectly because that is how the U.S. military trains.”

Tillman, who intends to retire, turned over leadership of Air Force One and the Presidential Airlift Group at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., to Col. Scott Turner on Friday. Turner had served as the group’s vice commander.