Wednesday, March 20, 2013

A mistake with "The Beast"

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Trust me, the photo shows 2 of the 7 helicopters that just came over our place carrying President Obama, Peres, and Netanyahu.
Such a short flight from Ben-Gurion Airport to Jerusalem.

But what a fashla  just as Air Force One was approaching Israel's shores!
"The Beast,"  the very special armored limo of the President, would not start!

Jordanian and Israeli officials quickly coordinated the airlift of  a replacement  presidential limousine from a US storage facility in Jordan.

According to The Times of Israel  live blog,  the Americans had filled the tank of  The Beast with diesel**  fuel by mistake!

Just when you think every little detail has been taken care of for this historic visit . . .
I'm just glad it was not Israelis who made the mistake.
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UPDATE at 9:00 pm:
The Jerusalem Post is reporting this:
. . .  Various news reports said it had been mistakenly filled with the wrong fuel, but the Secret Service did not confirm this.
"One of our protective vehicles experienced mechanical problems in Israel earlier today. This is why we bring multiple vehicles and a mechanic on all trips," Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary in Washington.
"Situations like this are planned for extensively by our advance teams so that the president's itinerary is unaffected by these types of issues."
**UPDATE #2 at 11:00pm:
Now it's the other way around. According to CNN, The Beast should have gotten diesel but was filled with gasoline by mistake:
The official limousine awaiting President Barack Obama's arrival in Israel malfunctioned after its driver refueled it using gasoline rather than diesel fuel, an official said Wednesday. The limo failed to start, and required towing . . .
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(Linking to Our World Tuesday.)
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6 comments:

  1. A very good start for this trip...

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  2. Yikes! I would not want to be the person that made that error.

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  3. Interesting video on The Beast!

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  4. So very interesting! Thank you for sharing the details we would never have known about.

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  5. Ouch! How embarrassing! We go through all kinds of road closures and such when the president is in Hawaii. I wish he'd take the helicopter.

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