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- cross-posted to:
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The Boeing 747-8 being offered to Donald Trump by Qatar once served the Qatari royal family and has been sitting unsold for years.
The jet, a lavishly configured version of Boeing’s largest passenger aircraft, has been lingering without a buyer since being put up for sale in 2020, according to aircraft listings and aviation analysts.
John Goglia, a former member of the National Transportation Safety Board, told Forbes that giving the 747-8 to the U.S. would allow the Qataris to avoid maintenance costs that were only getting higher—with the 747 fleet shrinking worldwide and fewer mechanics available who know how to work on them.
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Soon Musk will offer Trump a special Cybertruck as a replacement for The Beast. Because he doesn’t know what to do with all those swasticars nobody buys anymore.
I wonder at what price point it becomes worth it to buy his swasticars and chop them up for parts. That’s assuming that the parts aren’t so poorly made that no one would want them. I have some nifty ideas for a battery pack that big, which would probably burn down my house.
Rig them with remote controls, and then hold a competition. Each contest, different winning conditions and course are used. Month 1, modify the cars with weapons and duke it out. The next, a marathon where the car with the most distance is the victor, the third a destruction derby, and so forth.
It would be way more fun than a Mr. Beast show, I tell ya.
And every year, sand takes the trophy.
I see your giant RC car idea and raise you cybertrck demolition derby.
I see nothing wrong with this.
I would guess the only decent thing in it is the Tesla motors. Body is riddled with issues. Batteries as well. And all the electronics are proprietary and for the most part not repurposable.
I look forward to a picture sometime in the future of a field of stripped out swastikars waiting to be crushed.
You’d be surprised, I converted some rental e-scooter batteries I acquired into a powerbank once. Works fine.
I’m curious how they would convert this to be a functional Air Force One plane.
That aircraft is disassembled and reassembled almost entirely on a regular basis to keep it in tip top shape and find sabotage and issues, etc.
It’s also equipped specially with military defences, and of course has an onboard suite of equipment and personnel to run a war from the sky, in air refuelling, etc etc.
It’s an EXTREMELY specialised version of that very reliable aircraft, is what I’m saying.
How would they bring this new plane up to that standard, and why should they waste tax money on doing so? What’s the benefit to the nation?
It all seems ridiculous from the outside looking in. It seems that they’re just trying to appease a stupid man who thinks like a dodgy car salesman, and thus is happy to accept big dumb bribes, always getting the worst end of a deal, when the smarter people play him over and over.
…no?
I mean, you said it. They are trying to appease a stupid man, that’s all there is to it.
How would they bring this new plane up to that standard
Spoilers: They absolutely will not be bringing this death trap up to the current plane’s standards.
This will either site on a tarmac largely forgotten about for four years, at which point Trump will try and off-load it (if he hasn’t completely forgotten he owns it). Or it’ll become one of those “never going to be finished” government vanity projects that becomes an excuse to write blank checks to Boeing for billing statements littered with “Headlight Fluid: $4k, Crank Shaft Lengthening Service: $20k” line items.
Absolute best case scenario, someone in the administration actually tries to fly in this thing before the term is complete. And we all get to laugh (or cry, depending on who it lands on) on reading the consequences.
It seems that they’re just trying to appease a stupid man who thinks like a dodgy car salesman, and thus is happy to accept big dumb bribes
That’s who Americans believe is best able to run our country. We have been kicking and screaming for the last 40 years to have the US run like a business. And what other business best exemplifies the US than Used Car Dealership?
What’s the benefit to the nation?
Why do you even jokingly use a framework in which you’re assuming the current US government does anything “for the nation” instead of themselves?
And also, they’re just gonna ward off attacks with, uhm… gilded smoothie machines and massaging chairs.
I too think the gift is for use after his presidency, I read somewhere.
But in this times you never know.
I have a submarine to sell this guy
A white elephant.
Car salesman puts one over on the senile real estate guy.
Jesus fucking Christ… Qatar is basically a scumbag real estate agent conning an idiot into buying a condemned shack in a swamp as a “cozy waterfront getaway”, but on a colossally stupid level.
To meet Air Force One standards, the plane would need extensive modifications, including secure communications, nuclear blast shielding and missile defense systems.
Nuclear blast shielding?
EMP shielding. Nuclear explosions release an absolutely insane amount of electromagnetic energy and it fries electronics. This is actually where the first EMP was observed - a high altitude nuclear test fried a bunch of electronics. The idea is that it needs to be able to keep flying even if a nuclear blast goes off even quite some distance away. There’s obviously no way to actually nuke proof a plane, it would get vaporized or knocked out of the sky if it were close to the epicenter.
I think they have systems in place to stop EMPs from affecting and potentially taking down AirForce One, and nuclear blasts create EMPs that if left otherwise unshielded would do exactly that.
There’s also hardening from nuclear radiation.
For a nuclear blast, the thing that kills you is the thermal radiation and the shockwave, the nuclear radiation is not all that important
What about for electronics?
i gonna make an assumption here and say probably EMP resistance?
That’s just the shit they are willing to tell you about.
I legit would not be surprised if there was a secret ejection capsule for the president and some staff that could rocket out of the plane and get caught in mid-air by one of the escort planes.
Then they just need him:
I guess he finally realized that a 747 really is bigger and faster that his 757.
But number more huge!
see, thats the difference between a smart leader and a rube.
If the plane will have a failure with Trump on board there will a very bad time for Qatar.
But a great day for the world.
Really though, what will happen is trump will stick the taxpayer with the insane maintenance costs
Dare I hope that with the recent failures in the FAA and the shit condition of this plane, we may have some good news in the future?
Watch trump ask for a 787 and they switch it out.
It’s a gift to America. Just be grateful and accept a gesture of friendship.
Did he even say “thank you” though?
It’s still 20 years newer than the stuff the presidents have been flying around in.
Trump is even bad at being bribed… 🙄
not even asking for new items, is also Used and expensive. even his older jets/planes he has is very old.
Right? Being gifted a plane is kind of a financial nightmare.
If you plan on flying it yes. But something like this I bet you could rent out as an AirBnB (assuming there are beds). You also need a place to put it…
Its like “winning” a boat or car. Great, you have this thing you couldn’t afford. Now pay the taxes on it, that you can’t afford.
But also, we all know Trump doesn’t pay taxes.
Reminds me of the time Oprah screwed her audience over with a free car
https://www.jalopnik.com/that-time-oprah-gave-276-people-free-cars-that-actually-1838106001/
Fwiw a brand new Saturn g6 would have been probably about 15k.
Most of the time, these shows allow you to take the value of the prize instead. Sounds like they could have easily come away with ~9k in profit if they just took the value.
I’m not sure the hate is warranted here. Of course, that is if they were allowed to take the value.
What kind of country taxes prizes? Seems a bit ridiculous if you ask me.
Windfall and winnings are some of the most punitivly taxed gains in the US. They take a big chunk.
Prizes are income, otherwise companiea would hold a raffle each month to determine your salary.
Or, and this is a wild one, or the law could give a devinition of “price” that doesn’t open it up for abuse while not taking from people who won something.
Because that will definitely not lead to loopholes.
It’s how the law is in my country (Germany) and I wouldn’t know of any loopholes here.
If you win something in a lottery or a quiz show here, as long as it’s not job related, you don’t have to pay taxes on it. If you win a million you get a million. But if you put that million into a bank or invest it in any way, you have to pay taxes on the money you earn trough that.
Not here in the UK. I think there are exceptions - bonuses at work are taxed, if a professional artist wins money in an art competition that’s regarded as work money and taxed. But if you win the lottery or a bet on the horses, no tax to pay.
So trump would have to pay taxes on the plane eh?
According to the rules (who knows if they are followed nowadays), the plane belongs to America for now. When Trump’s presidency is over he would have to pay taxes and stuff on it if he wants to keep it (which it looks like his foundation or whatever shell company he’s got going on will pay the taxes on that).
In general, if any gifts given to the president belongs to the country and when they leave the position, they can elect to keep the gift as a personal item if they pay the taxes for it. Otherwise the gift stays belonging to America in the archives somewhere.
These types of policies are just government greed very, verrrrrry thinly disguised as -yet more- taxes.
“Oh, well done, good for you. You did all the work and you’ve won something…HA, nope, we’ve won something. I’ve done fuck all in this but I demand my percentage, where’s my cut?”
Good ol USA, at a high rate.
This is the same energy as people who buy their SO a vehicle without any input. Enjoy the new car payments babe.
Not when taxpayers are paying for all the expenses.
