The Day After Military Planes Flew Too Low Over NYC

The verdict is out, and yesterday's lower Manhattan flyover by the "Boeing 747 sometimes known as Air Force One" and military jets was a bad idea. So bad that the White House Military Office's director Luis Caldera apologized for the mission. It was so bad that the city official who knew about the event but didn't tell the mayor was "reprimanded and a disciplinary letter has been placed in his file," according to Newsday.

Newsday explains that many city employees actually knew about the photo opportunity, which was apparently intended to amass updated photographs of Air Force One near landmarks: "The New York Police Department knew. The 911 dispatchers knew. And Mayor Mike Bloomberg's citywide event coordination and management director, Marc Mugnos, knew. In fact, the FAA and several other public agencies knew." Mayor Bloomberg only found out through messages to his Blackberry and he was pissed:"I'm annoyed—furious is a better word—that I wasn't told. If I had known about it, I would have called them right away and asked them not to." President Obama was reportedly furious as well, though that message came late last night.

One Jersey City brokerage employee told the Post, "We all ran to the window, and I thought, that's it, we're all dead. It brought back all the memories of 9/11. I said, 'I have to get out of here now!'" Another downtown Manhattan employee told the NY Times, "As soon as someone saw how close it got to the buildings, people literally ran out. Probably about 80 percent of my office left within two minutes of seeing how close it got to our building." The Daily News had these quotes from worried workers:

"I was crying and praying to God to forgive me my sins because I thought I was going to get killed," said Kathleen Filandro, who fled from 1New York Plaza when she spotted the planes.

"It's like someone coming up to you, sticking a gun to your head for 15 seconds, walking away and hearing 20 minutes later it was an undercover cop posing for a photo," said Wall Street worker Bill Privett.

Apparently the plane's flyover was done during a regular military exercise (to save money), but Keith Olbermann still named Caldera as his worst person in the world on Countdown last night.

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By Jen Chung in News on April 28, 2009 10:18 AM

Comments [rss]

Past Taliban

It's shyt like this that CONFIRMS the fact that the USA is now a Third World Kraphole.

tmz is evil

This incident is an outrage! I know it's an outrage, because all the NYC tabloids and Inside Edition told me it was!

daddy

Hasn't the Obama administration heard of Photoshop? Come on!

las2381

So we all agree that this was a waste of $68,000 per hour.... yea that is how much it costs to operate Air Force One. I guess we aren't in a recession after all.

jaycjay

It costs $68,000/hour to operate Air Force One, but that's irrelevant: this wasn't Air Force One. It was a plane that sometimes is used in that role.

That is an important distinction, because the plane didn't have the full crew, Secret Service contingent, communications equipment, etc. that it does when the President is on board. It was just a routine Air Force flight.

Sure, there was an expense, but the plane flies almost every day. The F-16s accompanying it (some sources say there were two, though I haven't seen a photo with more than one... there may have been a second farther off with another photog, perhaps) fly daily. Whether there were two or three planes in total, the crew were Air Force members who would have been paid no matter what they were doing. And supposedly this was essentially a detour in a training flight they would have made anyway.

citizenerased

It had better be a fucking good photo

JacqueMehoff

I would use the plane excuse to get the day off.

PTSD. what if the plane flew in a serpentine pattern?

citizenerased

I love that video of the people running away from the plane. Seriously, where did they think they were they running to?

TrippinJoJo

So the next time i see low flying planes i should assume it's another photoshoot and go back to work/life?

godforbid the next time a plane flying low and its NOT a photoshoot.

sounds like someone is trying to cry wolf...in my opinion.

jazlow

Why did they have to do a photoshoot? Haven't they ever heard of PHOTOSHOP???

JacqueMehoff

did it really rattle windows?

because I don't think 9/11 did that, but it was really really really loud. something a person will remember.

JRod5417

I was in a building one block away on 9/11. Not only was it very loud, but the building vibrated & windows rattled. I for one am glad I missed this "event" yesterday.

whitecastlerock

I appreciated Chucky Schumer's concern for New Yorkers yesterday...

jaycjay

"Bloomberg also blasted the White House for signing off on a publicity stunt it should have known would backfire."

He should probably drop it. OK, a bureaucrat at the White House, director of the Military Office, screwed up. But so did a bureaucrat in Bloomberg's own administration, his event coordination and management director (not to mention some people in his police department).

Now, which bureaucrat should most be expected to realize the problem this might cause in NYC? The one living in Washington, or the one living here?

Drop the self-righteousness, Mike. Your administration is at least equally to blame.

Outter Burrougher

good, good point!

Rocknrope

"I was crying and praying to God to forgive me my sins because I thought I was going to get killed," said Kathleen Filandro...

There are no atheists in foxholes.

robingee

"I was crying and praying to God to forgive me my sins because I thought I was going to get killed,"

"And as soon as I learned it was a false alarm, I picked up my 13-year old boyfriend, some tall boys and headed to the porn theater."

ab_bklyn

I remember when "I Am Legend" was shooting in Manhattan a few years ago. They had to shoot the Brooklyn Bridge scene at night, with hundreds (thousands?) of extras, military aircraft, and helicopters flying overhead. They knew enough to warn the public at least a week before the night of the shoot, via television, newspapers, radio, and the internet, so that people wouldn't panic.

Seriously, what the f_ck was the US government thinking in not warning people about yesterday's "photo shoot"? If I were in Lower Manhattan yesterday I would have panicked too.