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Air Force One streaked down O’Hare’s runway 22R at full throttle.
The moment the Boeing 747-200B lifted off and began gaining altitude, its pilots fired the plane’s unique rocket-like engines. This caused the plane—the newest craft in the fleet—to shoot nearly straight up into the sky, quickly reaching nearly the speed of sound. Flanked by an escort of four fully armed F-22 fighters, the jumbo jet banked to the southeast, far from the site of the crime, heading back toward Washington.
On board, the head of the Secret Service detail administered oxygen and heart medication to President Hernandez and the First Lady in their suite in the front of the plane while the chief of the White House medical unit and Commander Gianetti focused on the pontiff in the surgical suite in the back of the plane.
The pope had suffered a minor heart attack the moment DSS agents had put him in the presidential limousine and was now unconscious.