{"id":6428,"date":"2017-10-06T14:35:00","date_gmt":"2017-10-06T19:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/?p=6428"},"modified":"2017-10-06T14:35:00","modified_gmt":"2017-10-06T19:35:00","slug":"retired-air-force-one-pilot-delivers-annual-lecture-southern-arkansas-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/2017\/retired-air-force-one-pilot-delivers-annual-lecture-southern-arkansas-university\/","title":{"rendered":"Retired Air Force One pilot delivers annual lecture at Southern Arkansas University"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Col. (Ret.) Mark Tillman speaks to well-wishers at Farmers Bank & Trust in Magnolia, Arkansas on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017, prior to delivering the program at the 13th Annual Farmers Bank and Trust Distinguished Speaker Series banquet at SAU.<\/p><\/div>\n

A large crowd heard stories of heroism and patriotism on Thursday, Oct. 5, as Col. (Ret.) Mark Tillman, the nation\u2019s 12th presidential pilot, delivered the program at the 13th Annual Farmers Bank and Trust Distinguished Speaker Series banquet at the Donald W. Reynolds Campus and Community Center at Southern Arkansas University.<\/p>\n

Tillman was at the controls of Air Force One on Sept. 11, 2001, protecting President George W. Bush by keeping him out of harm\u2019s way and connecting the airborne Oval Office to the nation\u2019s first responders. He served as pilot and commander of Air Force One from 2001-2009. His distinguished career spans 30 years in the U.S. Air Force. Tillman was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 2004 and promoted to Brigadier General by the President, the first military line officer to receive this honor.<\/p>\n

He regaled his audience with the story of Sept. 11, as he experienced it from the cockpit of Air Force One.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s 8:40 a.m. and I\u2019m moving through the plane, inspecting each room,\u201d Tillman said of that morning. \u201cAt 8:47, the time of the first attack, the PA system comes on and I\u2019m told to pick up the white phone. The radio operator says, \u2018You gotta see what\u2019s going on.\u2019 The first tower had been hit.\u201d<\/p>\n

At that moment, no one knew the nation had come under attack by hijackers. \u201cThere was no real concern about the first plane,\u201d Tillman said. \u201cThere was not a terrorist threat.\u201d<\/p>\n

President Bush was at an elementary school in Sarasota, Fla., at the time of the second attack.\u00a0 \u201cI was doing final inspection when I\u2019m told to pick up the beige phone. That\u2019s when I heard about the second tower and realized the nation was under attack. I told the staff that we were at war and that this was not an exercise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then-White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card informed Bush of the attacks, \u201cand we began making plans to relocate the President,\u201d Tillman said. \u201cThe President was firm \u2013 he would not be relocated, he would be repositioned to Washington, D.C. Those were his orders.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Bush started moving from the elementary school to the airplane, \u201cwe learned that the Pentagon had been hit by an airliner,\u201d Tillman said. \u201cReports were there were truck bombs and car bombs exploding in the Capital area \u2013 it made no sense to bring the President to D.C. because of the air and ground threat.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the sky over Florida, Air Force One received a report of another plane \u201cabove us and descending. We had reports there were nine aircraft hijacked. Three had hit their targets and there was a fourth over the Ohio Valley, maybe turning back toward New York. We had one aircraft over us \u2013 we saw it on our electronics. Our plan was to change direction and see if it followed us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second plane did not follow Air Force One, but was revealed to be a plane that had lost its transponder.<\/p>\n

Tensions increased as Tillman got word that the fourth aircraft was indeed headed toward Washington and that D.C. \u201cwasn\u2019t a safe place for the President.\u201d He redirected the jet for Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. Over the Gulf of Mexico, he said, another potential threat arose.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were told there were jets behind us, and that foreign nationals training in that area were to take out \u2018Angel\u2019 next. That was code for Air Force One. These were two fast-movers coming up over the Gulf and no one knew who they were.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was determined, however, that the fighters were from a unit in Texas and were to provide cover for the presidential plane as it crossed the Gulf.<\/p>\n

Bush landed at Barksdale, the most secure base in the world, Tillman said, and addressed the nation from there. However, Tillman was informed by military officials on the site that a nuclear exercise was being conducted. \u201cThe B-52s were hot,\u201d Tillman said to laughter, \u201cand I was told that maybe it wasn\u2019t the best place to bring the President.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dr. Trey Berry, left, president of Southern Arkansas University, and Dr. Bob Burns, chairman of the board, Farmers Bank & Trust, visit during the reception held for Col. (Ret.) Mark Tillman at Farmers Bank in Magnolia on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017.<\/p><\/div>\n

He spoke admiringly of the support of fighter aircraft joining the wing of Air Force One as he flew Bush across the country that day. \u201cThere were six planes flying over the Shenandoah Valley,\u201d he said of the presidential jet and its escorts. \u201cWe had F-16s from Andrews Air Force Base flying off the fuselage. One of the pilots was giving our crew a thumb\u2019s up from the cockpit. It was a real morale-builder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tillman also spoke about his successful mission to fly Bush \u2013 secretively \u2013 into Iraq to have dinner with the troops in 2003. \u201cHe told me, \u2018Tillman, all you have to do is fly me out of the United States, to dinner in Baghdad, and back home.\u2019 I appreciated that \u2013 he always kept it simple. I said, \u2018Sir, I\u2019m honored.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The mission was carried out in complete secrecy and involved transporting Bush and his team from Crawford, Texas, to Washington, D.C., swapping planes in the process. \u201cI\u2019m in the cockpit flying, and Bush says, \u2018Tillman, what\u2019s it like flying the President of the United States into a war zone? I said, \u2018Yeah, Mr. President, it\u2019s great,\u2019\u201d Tillman said, to laughter.<\/p>\n

Later in the evening, Tillman related \u201cthe coolest\u201d story about traveling with President Bill Clinton in the 1990s. \u201cWe flew Clinton to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and put the plane away in a hangar up there,\u201d Tillman said. \u201cWe\u2019re sitting there in the hangar and I\u2019m told there\u2019s a guy out front who wants to see me. So there\u2019s a guy on a motorcycle and he takes off his helmet and it\u2019s Harrison Ford. He says he\u2019s going to make a movie called \u2018Air Force One,\u2019 and would like a tour of the plane. He gives us the script.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFord starts to walk into the hangar, and we start to let him know he can\u2019t just go in there, and he says, \u2018It\u2019s my hangar.\u2019 Later, when the movie comes out, President Clinton wants to know if there\u2019s really an escape pod on board, because he saw it in the movie. I go, \u2018No, Mr. President, I\u2019m sorry, that was just in the movie.\u2019 Then he comes back and asks about parachutes. I go, \u2018No, sir, we don\u2019t have any parachutes.\u2019 He comes back again and says, \u2018Not even one?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The endowment created through this event provides scholarships that allow deserving students to experience outstanding educational opportunities at SAU. A reception was held prior to the lecture at the Main Branch of Farmers Bank and Trust.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A large crowd heard stories of heroism and patriotism on Thursday, Oct. 5, as Col. (Ret.) Mark Tillman, the nation\u2019s 12th presidential pilot, delivered the program at the 13th Annual Farmers Bank and Trust Distinguished Speaker Series banquet at the Donald W. Reynolds Campus and Community Center at Southern Arkansas University. Tillman was at the… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":564,"featured_media":6429,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[578,16360,200,7753,288],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6428","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-board-of-trustees","8":"category-development","9":"category-foundation","10":"category-homepage","11":"category-regional-news","12":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/564"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}