Boeing launched an urgent internal investigation after empty tequila bottles were found inside a top-secret Air Force One jumbo jet being built at the company’s Texas factory, according to a report.
The two empty mini bottles of alcohol were found this month in the San Antonio factory, a source told The Wall Street Journal.
A Boeing spokesperson told newspaper that it was a ‘personnel matter,’ and the company has said it’s working to improve quality and manufacturing operations.
Alcohol is banned from Boeing’s factories, and the discovery is not regarded as an incident of ‘foreign object debris’ such as tools or rags that are accidentally left behind inside a plane’s fuselage while it is being constructed.
Bosses said they are taking the discovery extremely seriously, although have not said if the bottle dropper has been identified or disciplined.
The aerospace giant is currently constructing two identical presidential jets. They are heavily modified 747-8 aircraft, known as VC-25B military variants that require employees working on the aircraft to have security clearances, the Wall Street Journal reported.
This is a rendering of the next Air Force One, currently under construction, with the new paint scheme that Trump proposed while serving as president
U.S. Air Force Boeing C-17 Globemaster III airplanes sit inside a hangar during maintenance operations at the Boeing Co. Global Services and Support facility in San Antonio, Texas, where the next Air Force One is currently being built
This is the current Air Force One with the classic paint scheme that was designed by former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in the 1960s
It’s considered by Boeing to be ‘effectively an airborne seat of government’ and is considered to be the ‘highest national priority’ – right up there with defense programs like ballistic missiles, according to the newspaper.
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There are two exact copies of the plane being built and are expected to be finished by 2025. Air Force One is the call sign given to any plane carrying a serving president, although the VC-25Bs are commonly described using the same nickname because presidents are seen using them so frequently.
That is a year later than agreed upon in the 2018 $3.9billion deal then-President Donald Trump and Boeing agreed to in 2018.
The current planes – two identical VC-25As – were introduced by former President George HW Bush in 1990, and are nearing the end of their service life.
Aerospace watchers are keen to find out more about what exactly the new planes will look like, after former President Donald Trump revealed a new color scheme for the jets while running the country in 2019.
He changed the plane’s paint scheme to be ‘more American’ with red, white and navy blue instead of the iconic duck-egg blue, white and gold scheme chosen by former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in the 1960s.
President Joe Biden has yet to comment on whether he will scrap the Trump color scheme and stick with the Jackie Kennedy-designed original.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki batted off a question about the paint job during her first press conference in January, saying the president was too busy with COVID to think about it.
Aviation experts say the current jets’ light blue underside serves as camouflage for when it is in the air, as it helps the planes blend in with the sky.
Biden has said if he will scrap Trump’s new paint scheme – pictured on a model plane in 2019 – or keep it
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