Low-Flying 747 with Fighter Jets Scares Crap Out of Lower Manhattan
Apparently the plane, which was the Air Force One back-up with two fighter jets tailing it, was on a city-approved photo-op. Unfortunately, neither the NYPD chiefs nor the FAA told anyone, resulting in this:
"Unaware of the planned exercise, scores of office workers flooded out of buildings, worried about the prospect of terrorism. 'People came pouring out of the buildings, the American Express Building, all the buildings in the financial district by the water,' said Edward Acker, a photographer who was at the building, 3 World Financial Center. 'And even the construction guys over by 100 North End Avenue area, they all got out of their buildings. Nobody knew about it. Finally some guy showed up with a little megaphone to tell everyone it was a test, but the people were not happy. The people who were here 9/11 were not happy.' Mr. Acker added: 'New York City police were standing right there and they had no knowledge of it. The evacuations were spontaneous. Guys from the floor came out, and one guy I talked to was just shaking.'”
The White House did not have a response to the incident.
UPDATE: Louis E. Caldera, director of the White House Military Office, issued an apology. "Last week, I approved a mission over New York. I take responsibility for that decision. While federal authorities took the proper steps to notify state and local authorities in New York and New Jersey, it’s clear that the mission created confusion and disruption. I apologize and take responsibility for any distress that flight caused."
Watch videos of the plane and WH press briefing, AFTER THE JUMP...
Posted Apr. 27,2009 at 12:16 PM EST by Andy Towle in New York, News | Permalink
interesting. we had a bit of scare in D.C. a week ago because a plane accidentally entered a no fly zone or whatever.
anyways, how come nobody was told? tsk. that's irresponsible IMO.
Posted by: Liz templin | Apr 27, 2009 12:45:10 PM
Douche bags never seem to amaze me. We will never stop jumping at the sound of a shot. Leave us the fuck alone.
Posted by: patrick nyc | Apr 27, 2009 1:02:29 PM
Paranoia SELF DESTROYER!!!
Posted by: raidereno | Apr 27, 2009 1:11:05 PM
I got a frantic call from my sister who works at the World Fi about this and who can blame her? She and my mom (who subsequently retired and has never gone back to lower Manhattan) survived the 9/11 attacks. How can they be utterly devoid of concern for those who still vividly remember the horrors of that day?
Posted by: bading | Apr 27, 2009 1:27:21 PM
Brought to you by the same moronic Pentagon tails that wag Big Dog Obama on Don't Ask, Don't Tell. The insanity of this startles even a cynic like me.
And you don't have to have experienced a 9/11 to have the hair on the back of your head sent up by one of these powerful aircraft suddenly, loudly flying by your office window. Years before 9/11 a slightly similar scare occured in San Francisco when the Navy's Blue Angels, who used to perform over The City during every Fleet Week, did a practice without the public being forewarned, literally roaring between some of our tallest buildings and causing the air to crack and thunder.
Their low flying was thereafter banned, but they continued some higher practice runs in subsequent years that continued to cause your heart to jump even when you knew about it ahead of time.
Heads should role for this, both at the city and federal level.
Posted by: Leland Frances | Apr 27, 2009 1:32:55 PM
How fucking stupid. Scare the shit out of people for a fucking movie?
It's like they don't have news broadcast and could have alerted people.
Dumb fucks.
Posted by: Tralfazal | Apr 27, 2009 1:49:56 PM
It is questionable that they decided to do this photo shoot over the city. The panic was easily anticipated.
However not warning people is EXACTLY what they should have done. You do not warn people ahead of time that Air Force One is going to be flying low circles overhead, for obvious security reasons.
How about flying over some water in the middle of nowhere and Photoshopping the city and Lady Liberty in next time?!
Posted by: Ian | Apr 27, 2009 1:53:20 PM
Even more fucked up is that the police and authorities were barred from alerting the public! Is there no compassion in this world anymore?
Posted by: Mr. E | Apr 27, 2009 2:21:46 PM
As PR moves goes, I'd say this was not in the plus column.
Posted by: anon | Apr 27, 2009 2:21:47 PM
FAIL.
This was just dumb.
Posted by: DR | Apr 27, 2009 4:23:13 PM
Have these idiots never heard of computer graphics? You can take a nice video of NYC without the friggin' plane, shoot the plane against a blue sky and lay it over with such precision, unless you know it's a composite, you can't tell. Idiots.
Posted by: Kyle Sullivan | Apr 27, 2009 5:36:51 PM
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Posted by: marcos | Apr 27, 2009 5:44:32 PM
Photo SHOOT? Since we're dealing with the military here, I'll do my best to extend some generosity and guess they've never heard of PhotoSHOP!!??! I mean, you wanna put a jumbo mounted by fighter jets in a clear blue sky over Manhattan? Any novice schmo with a bootlegged copy of Photoshop can make that happen in an hour... I'm not a conspiracy dick, but this seems a bit suspicious.. or just stupid.
Posted by: RandaPandaxr | Apr 27, 2009 6:53:36 PM
un. fucking. believable.
Posted by: MARKD | Apr 27, 2009 7:46:47 PM
I am surprised no one had a serious panic or heart attack. How could anyone be so out of touch, even if this was approved, and even if it had been 'informed', it was in bad taste!
abc interupts programming to talk about the (ridiculously over-reaction) flu, and not to let people know that this was not a real threat?!?!
wow!
Posted by: Amanda | Apr 28, 2009 12:17:38 AM
I'm really hoping Clardera is out of a job today.
Posted by: shane | Apr 28, 2009 8:57:25 AM
Oops - Caldera
Posted by: shane | Apr 28, 2009 8:57:49 AM