FAA Knew Low Flying Planes Would Freak Out NYers

Photograph of the 747 known as Air Force One when the President is on board and a fighter jet by istolethetv on Flickr

Maybe Senator Chuck Schumer has the right idea with being constantly ticked off by the Federal Aviation Administration—it turns out that the FAA was well aware that the Boeing 747 and military jets (also known as the "Presidential Airlift Group") would scare the bejesus out of people in lower Manhattan and New Jersey as they did on Monday. From WCBS 2:

In a memo obtained by CBS 2 HD the Federal Aviation Administration's James Johnston said the agency was aware of "the possibility of public concern regarding DOD (Department of Defense) aircraft flying at low altitudes" in an around New York City. But they demanded total secrecy from the NYPD, the Secret Service, the FBI and even the mayor's office and threatened federal sanctions if the secret got out.

Schumer told CBS 2's Marcia Kramer, "To say that it should not be made public knowing that it might scare people it's just confounding. It's what gives Washington and government a bad name. It's sheer stupidity." Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, whose department knew about the exercise but kept quiet, said, "I think going forward we would never tolerate that again. It was insensitive. It was very low. These are people who were of course traumatized significantly as a result of Sept. 11."

The "aerial photo mission"—apparently so a White House office could update its photographs of Air Force One flying over landmarks (like the Statue of Liberty, in this case)—has been a bit embarrassing for the White House. President Obama ordered a review, noting that it was a wasteful use of money, "It was a mistake, as was stated ... and it will not happen again." While White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said he didn't have the cost of the mission—"I haven’t been in the cabin. There’s not like a taxi meter, so I don’t know how much."— the mission was apparently planned with normal exercises, which apparently saved (some) money.

Oh, and Schumer wants the FAA to alert NYC to any low-flying planes at least 48 hours in advance to "avoid...9/11-like panic": "They should be shouting this information from the rooftops, not keeping it on the QT."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on April 29, 2009 10:59 AM

Comments [rss]

braun 8985

This will be especially exciting if you are into astronomy as a hobby.

Radian 80

Braun 8985

lingxiali

maybe you are right! why they asked for secrecy in the first place .

<li>ok-jordan</li>

Sulayman

Let me take the contrary position for a moment. If the White House put out a press release, do you think newspapers would have published it as anything more than a paragraph? I think people would have freaked out anyway.

Secondly, if they notified the public and took pains to do so, don't you think teabaggers and hippies would line the Hudson with posters and placards, and maybe spell something out on the grass of Liberty Island? In hindsight this completely blew up on them, but I could see why they asked for secrecy in the first place.

Past Taliban

Just how INCOMPETENT has the US government become?

Well let me put it this way; that big airplane flew up & down Manhattan and Jersey City over and over again, twisting & turning constantly ...YET IT COULDN'T MANAGE TO HIT A SINGLE BUILDING!

tmz is evil

Disgusting. President Obama should be ashamed for allowing this to happen. It only feeds into his anti-American image.

Wahhhh!!! Even though the misunderstanding was cleared up within a few short hours after it happened and the Prez and other officials apologized for it, I'm still gonna scream with outrage about the incident several days later! Wahhhhhhhhh!!

Past Taliban

Remember your own words when you get azz-raped one day and the cops tell you, "Hey this happened several days ago, why the F are you still screaming about it with outrage"?

snickerdoodle

Disgusting. President Obama should be ashamed for allowing this to happen. It only feeds into his anti-American image.

hotstepper

anti-American image? what? he's the president silly.

that's like ben and jerry not loving ice cream, or bloomberg not loving wall street.

jaycjay

The Times City Room blog has some interesting background on Marc Mugnos, the city bureaucrat who apparently dropped the ball on this, including why he was the one who the FAA contacted:

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/the-forgotten-e-mail-that-rocked-new-york/

NYDirk

I won't believe it until I see a picture of the Tourist Guy.

thelexiphane

Robert Gibbs: "I haven’t been in the cabin. There’s not like a taxi meter, so I don’t know how much."

I hope you meant cockpit Bob, because if your boss is making you ride in the cargo hold to keep Bo the dog company, rather than AF One's cabin, he's punking you.

JacqueMehoff

I think the mayor's just pissed that he wasn't informed.

he's not on the "need to know" list.

and how loud was this low flying plane? from the video I didn't hear much of it. flyovers during fleetweek were louder. whatever.

Toby von Meistersinger

The whole secrecy thing gives the appearance of something bad which will no doubt be picked up by conspiracy theorists. So much for the promise of open government!

whitecastlerock

Hey Chuckie boy, stop avoiding issues that really impact New Yorkers, like how they are going to be ass raped by the MTA by the end of May... Fuck you Chuckie boy

Gothampc

Schumer is a joke. His party is in power, if he hates the FAA so much, why aren't changes made? (Probably because they can't find anyone who has paid their taxes). Anybody can stand around and scream about what's wrong. Show some real leadership and make the necessary changes.

PKinNYC

For the shit ton of money they wated...you could have paid me to photoshop Air Force one wherever you want...Statue of Liberty...done...Yankee Stadium...done...Hollywood sign...no problem...

donner

This is the part I still can't wrap my head around... I'm hardly a conspiracy theorist but something just doesn't sit right with this whole "photo shoot" story. I feel like my intelligence is being insulted with our leaders apparently not knowing the powers of Photoshop.

glennQNYC

The White House ordered this huge waste of our money. Not the FAA, or Pentagon as Gothamist would like you to believe.

NannyState

Louis Caldera is the idiot in question, and he's a greedy idiot. When he was a university president, he extorted huge salaries for a record short of accomplishment and long on bullshit.

valeriob

they're such cockfaces for this photo shoot stunt. even that hoe tyra would be disappointed.

Mr Mel

Again with the misspelling, a hoe is a gardening or farming instrument. A Ho is a vulgarism from the hood denoting an amoral woman.

A Poho is a destitute prostitute from the deep south,

valeriob

you didn't pick up on cockface not being a real word?

I had actually written "nappy headed hoes" but deleted the rest and changed it around a bit. no time for grammar (or racism)

hotstepper

this fiasco finally convinces me, once and for all, that america is being lead by clones of Governor William J. Lepetomane.

matukonyc

I have a hard time believing that Bloomberg didn't know. The aide that "neglected" to tell him was only reprimanded. Don't you think that if someone "neglected" to tell Bloomberg about this that they would have been fired?

goodcow

Don't you think that if someone "neglected" to tell Bloomberg about this that they would have been fired?

No, because they're in a union. Very likely DC37.

TimSPC

How does this work anyway? You've got the 747 and you've got the jet. Do they hire a photographer to ride as a passenger in the jet? Is he dressed like Goose, but holding a Leica? Is he holding on while some jet pilot is trailing the 747, pointing his camera out the window? "Work it, Air Force One. Now turn. Look at the camera. Be more playful. Good. Good. Now, SERIOUS! Scowl! Good! Now, show me sexy. Show me sexy. Make love to the camera. Beautiful!"

jaycjay

They wouldn't have to hire a photographer. The Air Force already has them.

citizenerased

Why do you guys keep writing 'Boening'?

Mr Mel

Spelling and editing are not strong points here. I tried Spell Check, it allowed Boeing but not Boening. The misspelled word also may have erotic overtones.