Boeing VC-25 it would have appeared when Reagan was president; President and Nancy Reagan's Air Force One jackets were placed on the chairs to "make them feel at home". A specially designed hydraulic lifter (similar to the type used by airline catering) with the presidential seal affixed to the sides lifts the casket up to the portside aft door to enter the VC-25A. The tradition of placing the caskets in the passenger cabin dates back to the assassination of John F. Kennedy, when the crew did not want the president's body placed in the cargo hold, and again during the state funeral
Asheville Regional Airport transport (SST) airliner visited AVL during a 1987 promotional tour and was snowed-in overnight. Chartered Boeing 747 jumbo jets (operated by United Airlines) have also visited, as has an Airbus A340 during the visit of Charles, Prince of Wales, to the nearby Biltmore Estate in 1996. AVL's runway allows for the operation of almost any aircraft type. In April 2010, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama landed in Asheville aboard a Boeing C-32 for a weekend getaway. In October 2011, President Obama landed in Asheville in the larger Boeing VC-25 to kick off his North Carolina and Virginia