President Joe Biden’s boarding Air Force One has not always run smoothly, with footage famously showing the commander in chief falling over on the stairs as he climbed aboard the plane in March 2021.
Biden stumbled several times up the staircase to the presidential aircraft in Maryland two years ago, later blaming windy conditions for his trip.
According to a recent viral TikTok, the plane (or rather its absence) has become a further source of embarrassment for the president, when it was claimed he had boarded a “fake” version of the vehicle during a trip to Japan.
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The Claim
A TikTok video posted by user @censorshiprulespod on May 18, 2023, which was viewed 300,000 times, claimed that Joe Biden used a “fake Air Force One.”
The video compared a photo of Biden leaving the plane from a lower entrance, with one of former President Donald Trump leaving from an entrance nearer to the plane’s nose.
The Facts
The White House has access to two Air Force Ones, military-grade versions of the Boeing 747. They carry the tail codes 28000 and 29000. The Air Force designation for the aircraft is VC-25A.
What is not shared in the TikTok post is that there are two entrances at the front of the plane, one from the first floor and another from the second. The entrance shown on Twitter is on its first floor, positioned in front of the vehicle’s turbine.
A photo tour of the plane published by CBS News shows that Air Force One has front entrances for the president and a rear entrance for journalists.
The footage shared on TikTok (which can be found on C-SPAN) was from Biden’s recent visit to Japan for the G7 summit. The video shows the president arriving in harsh weather, which may explain why the lower entrance was used over the higher entrance nearer to the plane’s nose.
The same entrance was used when Biden visited Northern Ireland earlier this year, again arriving during poor weather.
As the president had blamed windy weather for his stumble in Maryland in 2021, it might not be that surprising the lower entrance was chosen on both of these occasions.
The photo shared in the TikTok of Trump leaving Air Force One also obscures the view of the entrance of the lower side, although the top corner of it can be seen next to the presidential seal.
In any case, the claim that Biden arrived in a “fake” Air Force One is without any merit.
The VC-25A currently used by the president is due to be retired, and recommissioned under the VC-25B Presidential Aircraft Recapitalization program. A 2018 report from defense policy website Defense News said a $3.9 billion contract was awarded to Boeing for the two next-generation Air Force One planes.
Commissioned as part of a defense budget proposed by then President Donald Trump, the new model was due to be put into use in 2024. However, as reported by Defense News, design changes have followed since, and the first VC-25B is now due to be delivered by 2027, with the second expected to arrive the following year.
The Ruling
False.
The video does not show that Joe Biden entered a “fake” version of Air Force One. He exited from the vehicle’s first-floor door instead.
The video was taken as Biden landed at the G7 summit in Japan, during harsh weather, which appears to explain why he used the lower entrance.
In addition, the view of the lower entrance to the plane, in the photo of Donald Trump used as a comparison, is obscured.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek’s Fact Check team