Marine One

As I mentioned a second ago, I spotted President Obama as he passed through Sarasota today. He flew back into our little airport aboard Marine One, the designation for the helicopter in which the President flies. I was having a hard time figuring out which chopper was actually Marine One because all of a sudden there were five Marine helicopters landing. I knew the President was on one of them because they had closed the road in front of me to traffic seconds before they came into range. The first two helicopters landed and disgorged 10-15 people each, but none of them looked important enough to be guarded. Then another chopper landed over near me next to a back-up bird that had been there since I arrived. A fourth and slightly smaller helicopter then flew in, landing between the first two. Only a few people got out of that one, and it wasn't met by many people. The fifth and final whirlybird took a slightly different path than the others, so I figured that was the one. All of these pictures show that helicopter as it came in and landed in front of Air Force One.



Look close at this picture and you can see a Marine standing at attention and saluting as President Obama prepares to exit the helicopter.