Distinguished visitor: Air Force Two lands in Moses Lake
CHARLES H. FEATHERSTONE | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 3 years, 1 month AGO
A specially modified Boeing 757, most frequently used to transport the vice president of the United States, sits outside Greenpoint Technologies’ main hangar Monday at the Grant County International Airport.
Charles H. Featherstone/Columbia Basin Herald
A modified 737, designed to carry cabinet secretaries and members of Congress, performs a touch-and-go Monday at the Grant County International Airport.
MOSES LAKE — An airplane used to transport senior U.S. government officials — including the president and vice president — was parked at the Grant County International Airport on Monday.
“Yes, that is an official U.S. government aircraft,” said airport director Rich Mueller, who added he could give no details on why it was here.
The specially modified Boeing 757 known as a C-32A was parked outside the main hangar of Greenpoint Technologies Inc., which customizes large commercial aircraft with specialized luxury interiors for heads of state and the leaders of very large corporations.
Greenpoint Technologies, which is owned by French aerospace giant Safran, did not respond to requests for comment prior to press time.
With the tail number 90004, the aircraft is one of four operated by the U.S. Air Force and is sometimes known as “Air Force Two” because it is used to transport the vice president of the United States, though according to the Air Force, the first lady, various cabinet members and sometimes even the president use the aircraft to fly to cities with smaller airports.
According to a report published in June on the website Defense One, the Air Force dropped plans this year to replace the four C-32s, despite the fact the planes are 25 years old.
In addition, a C-40B/C — a modified 737 designed to carry cabinet secretaries and members of Congress — with the tail number 10041 performed several touch-and-gos — landing and then taking off again without stopping — Monday morning.
Mueller said he did not know if the presence of the two U.S. government aircraft in Moses Lake was related.
“Getting to see both here is a rare treat,” he said.
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.
ARTICLES BY CHARLES H. FEATHERSTONE
Potato prices up, sales down for first quarter 2023
DENVER — The value of grocery store potato sales rose 16% during the first three months of 2023 as the total volume of sales fell by 4.4%, according to a press release from PotatoesUSA, the national marketing board representing U.S. potato growers. The dollar value of all categories of U.S. potato products for the first quarter of 2023 was $4.2 billion, up from $3.6 billion for the first three months of 2022. However, the total volume of potato sales fell to 1.77 billion pounds in the first quarter of 2023 compared with 1.85 billion pounds during the same period of 2022, the press release noted. However, total grocery store potato sales for the first quarter of 2023 are still above the 1.74 billion pounds sold during the first three months of 2019 – a year before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the press release said.
WSU Lind Dryland Research Station welcomes new director
LIND — Washington State University soil scientist and wheat breeder Mike Pumphrey was a bit dejected as he stood in front of some thin test squares of stunted, somewhat scraggly spring wheat at the university’s Lind Dryland Research Station. “As you can see, the spring wheat is having a pretty tough go of it this year,” he said. “It’s a little discouraging to stand in front of plots that are going to yield maybe about seven bushels per acre. Or something like that.” Barely two inches of rain have fallen at the station since the beginning of March, according to station records. Pumphrey, speaking to a crowd of wheat farmers, researchers, seed company representatives and students during the Lind Dryland Research Station’s annual field day on Thursday, June 15, said years like 2023 are a reminder that dryland farming is a gamble.
Wilson Creek hosts bluegrass gathering
WILSON CREEK — Bluegrass in the Park is set to start today at Wilson Creek City Park. The inaugural event is set to bring music and visitors to one of Grant County’s smallest towns. “I've been listening to bluegrass my whole life,” said the event’s organizer Shirley Billings, whose family band plays on their porch every year for the crowd at the Little Big Show. “My whole family plays bluegrass. And I just wanted to kind of get something for the community going. So I just invited all the people that I know and they’ll come and camp and jam.” ...