Vice President Upgraded--to Air Force One

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Vice President Al Gore got his first ride on Air Force One on Saturday night, and he seemed to enjoy the experience so much that he might want to make it a regular habit someday.

Never before had anyone but President Clinton or then-President Bush been the passenger of honor on the huge, plush, specially equipped Boeing 747 used for presidential travel.

The opportunity came Gore’s way when Clinton suddenly canceled his trip to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in Malaysia, opting instead to focus on the Iraq crisis, and sent the vice president as his replacement. With no time to get Gore’s regular plane, a Boeing 757, ready for travel, U.S. officials decided to turn Air Force One over to the vice president.

Gore was clearly delighted. He took a quick tour of the plane, which includes such attractions as the seat in the rear of the plane that Clinton assigned to House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) in 1995 on the way to Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s funeral, causing Gingrich to fume that he deserved better treatment.

Although it had to prepare hastily for Gore, the Air Force seemingly left nothing to chance. Over the chair in the office that Clinton usually uses on the plane, officials placed a jacket with the seal of the vice president.

It was not clear Sunday, however, that Asian governments will be as gracious to the vice president as was the Air Force One crew.

During the flight across the Pacific, one of Gore’s top aides went to considerable lengths to try to ease Asian concerns that, in the middle of an ongoing economic crisis, the top leaders of the Pacific region will find themselves meeting with the vice president instead of Clinton.

“It’s unfortunate that he [Clinton] can’t go, but he and the vice president have worked together on the initiatives,” said the Gore aide. “. . . This is truly the next best thing to having the president himself.”

The aide said Gore “will be speaking for the president. . . . The only thing missing from the field, unfortunately, is the president’s body. But his mind, his leadership and his influence are there continually.”

But there were other differences in the switch from Clinton to Gore. More than 100 reporters, producers, photographers and camera operators were ready to leave Washington for Asia with Clinton on Saturday. Of these, only three elected to accompany Gore.

The president’s decision was tinged with irony. For the past two months, despite some political turmoil in the host country of Malaysia, administration officials repeatedly emphasized how important it was going to be for Clinton to go to the APEC forum.

U.S. officials argued that the Asian conference is especially important because of the economic crisis, and they have pointed out that Clinton has a personal stake in APEC because he organized and hosted the organization’s first gathering of top-level leaders in 1993.

In fact, this is the second time in three years that Clinton has dropped out of the APEC gathering. He also stayed home and sent Gore in his place in November 1995 as the Republican-led Congress was forcing a shutdown of the federal government.

But on that previous occasion, Gore didn’t get to ride on Air Force One.

The Warren Commission report on the assassination of President Kennedy contained a recommendation that the president and the vice president should not ride on the same airplane. That advice has been followed ever since, making it impossible for Gore to join Clinton in flight on the presidential plane.

Administration officials are now also trying to figure out what to do about another time-honored custom: that the president and vice president should not be out of the country at the same time.

Clinton is still planning to travel to Asia later this week if the Iraq crisis permits him to do so. He was scheduled to visit Japan and South Korea for two days each after the conference in Malaysia. Gore cannot substitute for him on these stops, which are official state visits.

But in order for Clinton to meet his original schedule and arrive in Japan on Wednesday night, he will have to leave the United States before Gore can get home from Malaysia.