Free Republic

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1, 2005 – Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld likes to take his office with him and stay connected to events on the ground when he flies overseas to visit with troops and confer with U.S. and allied military and civilian officials. Rumsfeld's "flying Pentagon" of choice is an Air Force E-4B aircraft, a highly modified Boeing 747-200 four-engine jet. Known as the National Airborne Operations Center, the plane boasts sophisticated communications equipment as well as the capability to be refueled in flight. The commander of the NAOC, Army Col. David L. Molinelli, pointed out July 24 during Rumsfeld's...

<p>BEIJING, China (CNN) --Radar data from Chinese authorities show that the doomed China Airlines CI611 flight bound for Hong Kong experienced two abnormal drops in altitude before it crashed last weekend.</p> <p>The information came from Liu Yajun, a traffic control expert at the Beijing-based Chinese Civil Aviation Association, who told Chinese-run Hong Kong daily Wen Wei Po about the sudden and as yet unexplained drops experienced by the Boeing 747-200.</p>