Palin: "Absurd" Not To Consider 2012 Run
Wall Street Throwing More Money at Republicans
Paterson Bombshell Rumor Watch: Resignation Imminent?
More Bald Eagles Spotted In Harlem!
Paterson "Bombshell" Just PG-13?
This morning's Boeing 747+fighter jet fly-over was, as we now know, nothing to worry about because it was a photo opportunity for Air Force One photographers or something. But it's not like hundreds, if not thousands of New Yorkers in lower Manhattan, weren't just a little startled by the low-flying aircraft, evacuating buildings and sending worried calls or texts to friends. [Update: The White House has apologized! More below.]
The NYPD told the media, "The flight of a VC-25 aircraft and F-16 fighters this morning was authorized by the FAA for the vicinity of the Statue of Liberty with directives to local authorities not to disclose information about it but to direct any inquiries to the FAA Air Traffic Security Coordinator." And the FAA said, "It is pre-planned, pre-coordinated with everyone involved... It's a military flight over New York to take photos."
Yet the coordination seemed to have missed the Mayor's office! NY1 reports, "Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he was furious that he was not notified"—and that it was "poor judgment" for the flyover to be so near Ground Zero—"The mayor said had he known about the photo shoot on Thursday when the message was sent out, he would have spoken with the Defense Department and asked them to reconsider." And one woman, who had worked on the 13th floor of the World Trade Center's north tower, told the Wall Street Journal, "For anybody who had gone through the World Trade Center, this was the most thoughtless, senseless thing they could do to somebody."
We asked the Air Force for comment and received this statement:
"In coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Presidential Airlift Group conducted a aerial photo mission in the New York City area on 27 Apr 2009 involving the VC-25 and an F-16, in conjunction with normally scheduled continuation training for assigned aircrew members. This mission was coordinated for the Upper New York Bay, south of the Holland Tunnel and in the Newark Bay north of the Staten Island Expressway between the hours of 1000L and 1030L."When NBC News' Chuck Todd asked White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs about the flyover, Gibbs apparently didn't know about it. Todd was surprised Gibbs didn't have a response, since it was a plane used as Air Force One.
Update: The White House Military Office director Louis Caldera issued an apology, explaining he approved the mission last week: "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." A financial services executive in lower Manhattan told the Washington Post, "Particularly for people like myself who were here on September 11, it was kind of an uncool thing. Someone should have made a public announcement."
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Pussies
Should the public have been notified?
Yes.
If the public was notified, would there still be lots of people panicking and calling 9-1-1?
Of course.
They could've at least said there would be a low-level military fly-by in the morning without having to spill the beans that it was actually VC-25 (AF1).
Though I agree people shouldn't have been that scared of this. There's a fighter jet next to the plane to keep everyone safe.
Yet another governmental bad idea.
too bad, mr. mayor.
sometimes it's not all about you and your richies.
America! that's a sight I would love to see.
must have slept through it. I love flyovers.
Waaah, this is kind of like what happened once, wah.
dear god,
do we need more reasons for whiny ny'ers to get their expensive panties in a bunch?
thanks pal,
h.s.
Yeah maybe they should have put it on the front page of the post this morning so some whack job could take a pot shot at it with a shoulder fired missile so it crashes into the SOL...now that would have been inappropriate
Not announcing this was bonehead, thank you Mr. Kelly. During fleet week they always announce the flyovers, and yes this would have been really cool to watch.
There are plenty of people with legit PTSD that could have used a heads up today, but then again Obama knows best. Actually surprised he hasn't repainted it with him in a cape on the side.
4/27 WAS AN INSIDE JOB!!!!
Comment of the year...
^^
^^
MAVERIIIIIICK!
(had to be said.)
Wow. Now if only they had done it 26 days earlier, they could have written it off as an April Fool's joke...
MAVERIIIIIICK!
(had to be said.)
MAVERIIIIIICK!
(had to be said.)
Who's bright idea was it to fly a 747 low to the ground around Lower Manhattan? What the hell kind of photo op were they expecting to get? "Hey, so this is the view the passengers must have had before all slamming into the tower. Let's put it on the White House Christmas card!"
Apparantly Maveriiick had to be said three times!
But seriously folks...this was a retarded idea. One, not to give a heads up (actually read that some NY peeps knew, but were ordered to stay silent) is lame. But i think the whole IDEA is lame. You know how much money this "Photoshoot" cost?!? And knowing about 9/11 - who came up with this brilliant plan? I mean, didn't anyone say , "Uh, sir...it is probably going to look bad for people on the ground."
A good director would answer you with "
Who cares - as long as we get the shot!"
Ready when you are, Mr. De Mille!
If it was the previous administration that did this, we would see countless articles about the money this little photo shoot cost us taxpayers, how much fuel was burned, how much carbon was released into the atmosphere, delays this caused to commercial flights...
Id did happen when the previous administration was in office. The only difference was it a photo op flyover of the Grand Canyon instead of NYC.
But I can't find any of those articles from the liberal press screaming about how much money it wasted. Could you point me to them?
this shit was a photo op? these people never heard of photoshop? and it's the easiest shit to photoshop too. The sky is blue!
seriously, they can call the n korean photoshop guy and "awesome it up"
Having the fighter jet in close radius would have made it even more terrifying if I had seen it. I expect fighter jets to intercept any low flying aircraft over Manhattan, and if they are seen, that's all the more worried we should be.
That's silly. Do you really think the Air Force would send only one fighter to intercept a wayward jumbo jet? They would scramble at least two. And geez, how can anyone miss that paint job? It's unmistakeably the unique blue and white scheme that only two 747s in the world wear.
There were two F16s.
Actually, if there really WAS a terrorist incident, they might only be able to get one jet on scene in time.
Ever read any of the accounts of NORAD's response to 9/11 as it was happening?
Put it this way - the first USAF plane on scene at the Pentagon was an unarmed West Virginia Air National Guard propeller driven C-130 cargo plane!
So, actually, a real terrorist incident might very well look like that!
As for the paint job - so what?
Maybe this time, terrorists infiltrated the US Air Force - who knows?
In any case, would anybody even have TIME to do all that caveating? or would they be too busy running for their lives?
Shame they weren't there on 911. Guess this was a make up.
Swine flu, low-flying presidential airplanes terrorizing people: if this country is NOT a Third World Shithole already then it's probably just 5 minutes from becoming one.
THANK YOU! Finally a sensible comment on this thread.
And I completely agree with you, the US is on the verge of Third world as we speak.
THANK YOU! Finally a sensible comment on this thread.
And I completely agree, the US is on the verge of Third world status as we speak.
Gee, I really love the way commenters on these threads throw around the phrase "third world" any time they are slightly inconvenienced or their slice is too cold. Jesus - move to Somalia or Sudan and then we'll see how much you appreciate living in one of the most advanced, sophisticated, civilized cities in the world.
Somalia and SUdan are extreme cases, those countries are not just third world, they are complete 'post-apocalyptic" war zones. They are not representative of the Third World completely.
US will probably slid down to a third world status akin to Russia.
Yes, you're right, they are. I was making a point, but as long as you mention it, I'd rather live in the US than Russia any day.
Ha! So true, people here in the US have no concept of what it's like to live in an actual third world country. Most of us wouldn't last a week.
Well, we have the right guy in office to turn it into one in a hurry. All that experience in Kenya and Indonesia will come in handy.
Um, why is our government paying to fly circles around New York and take pretty pictures when our nation is in economic crisis? Wholly apart from the idiocy of the idea, this just seems like a program that can be shut down. Use some stock photos or wait a few years.
relax, it's all part of the stimulus plan to pour money into the economy.
Someone should be fired over this with no benefits since it was gross negligence.
Just kidding: It's government. He'll be re-assigned to another worthless agency and be paid OT and a pension.
I don't see this as much different from some of the Fleet Week aerial events they hold each year...there was one year they used really old (and loud) planes that completely seemed as if they were about to crash land in either downtown Manhattan or Brooklyn. Not amusing at first, but eh, you get over it. That said, I agree with the person who suggested Photoshop; that would have been simple!
I always knew Harrison Ford was the 20th hijacker.
An excellent use of taxpayer money! Thank you, gubbermint!
The difference with fleet week is that the public, the police, etc know it's fleet week or can easily find out.
Have Photoshop licenses gotten so expensive that the DoD can justify this kind of spending?
And you know who was flying that jet, right?
Keri Ferrell, the Hipster Grifter!
As usual, Obama passes the buck. ie. votes "present" again.
He is the commander-in-chief, it's his responsibility what the military does. Either he knew about this ahead of time and is therefore a reckless moron, or he didn't, in which case he is a clueless moron.
If this had happened with Bush in the White House, the posters here would be going beserk with rage.