Air Force One missed the approach on its landing earlier today at Bradley Field, Connecticut, after what the FAA called "below the minimum" visibility forced the pilots to circle the airport once before successfully landing the aircraft. ABC News reports that "the attempt was not a touch-and-go or dramatic maneuver," but something that "happens all the time, even for commercial and military flights." more ›

That Jamaica Bay emergency landing a NYPD helicopter had to make yesterday? It turns out the helicopter was on "security patrol for President Obama's arrival at JFK" when it was trying to head back to NYPD Aviation headquarters at Floyd Bennett Field to refuel...but it ended up falling into the bay, just 30 yards from the helicopter pad. The NYPD believes it had a mechanical failure. more ›

Hey! The Pentagon is just like us, tracking blogs and social media for trends. When it released its report about the ill-planned Air Force One flyover in late April, buried in the pages of documents were details that the military was gauging fallout online: One email read, "Web site blog comments ‘furious’ at best"—like this one!—"Twitter search reveals ‘tweets’ regarding two F-16’s chasing commercial airliner. Rate of 1 tweet per minute and growing" (Twitter rate was later 3 Tweets/minutes!). And the Christian Science Monitor noticed that the Pentagon also ignored the warnings of USAF Maj Gen Brian P. Meenan, who wrote, "NYC populace can be sensitive to airplanes that appear lower than normal or tracks not normally seen over the NYC area. Influenced by 9/11. Have seen one or two instances of civil aircraft cleared for visual arrivals that triggered inquiries to media and local officials concerning unusual flt activity from folks on the ground." The AP—which notes that even a Pentagon PowerPoint chart admitted "No positive spin is possible"—also found that the Air Force's cell that monitors Internet chatter suggested, "Government involvement in this incident could be used to frame expected handling of H1N1 outbreak." more ›

Happy Friday—the Pentagon has released more photographs from the Presidential Airlift Group's NYC flyover. You remember that day back in late April, when the Boeing 747 (known as Air Force One when the President is on board) and fighter jets zoomed near Lower Manhattan building, prompting building evacuations, panic, front page marvels and annoyance. The White House released one underwhelming photo in May, but now, on a slow summer Friday, we've got more to peruse—here's the PDF. more ›

This morning the NYC Office of Emergency Management announced that "a P-3 Orion reconnaissance military plane will fly down and back up the Hudson River between the hours of 10:30 to 11:30 a.m." Coming as it does after the Air Force One photo-op debacle, the fly-by must have been for a pretty important reason, right? Well, the Post has it that it was arranged as a retirement present from a Naval base in Maine to a "veteran aviator." Apparently, the FAA had approved the request months ago and informed the city at that time, but had not specified the date until this morning. The Bloomberg administration says they didn't ask for the flight to be canceled, but informed the FAA that it would have been nice to have a little more notice to prepare New Yorkers for additional traumatic 9/11 flashbacks. After the NYC Office of Emergency Management announced the flyby, the FAA reversed itself and revoked permission for the flight, the AP reports. FAA party-poopers reportedly told commanders at Naval Air Station Brunswick that they couldn't risk further public panic for the sake of a going-away party. more ›

From the NYC Office of Emergency Management: "As per the FAA, a military plane will fly down and back up the Hudson River between the hours of 10:30 to 11:30 am today." We assume Air Force One is grounded, much like Sasha and Malia. Update: It was cancelled. Did Bloomberg complain? more ›

The White House spent up to $357,000 for the Presidential Airlift Group—which includes the 747 that is Air Force One when the President is on board and a military fighter jet escort—to fly over lower Manhattan and take pictures—and is the photograph they release? It's really mediocre—we guess they didn't want to spend the money/time to Photoshop it up. And why not at least give us a shot of the darn plane in front of the lower Manhattan skyline? Or is that too good for us? more ›

After initially saying that the photographs from the NYC flyover made by the Presidential Airlift Group (which includes the plane that is Air Force One when the President is on board) be released, the White House has decided that an image will be released after all. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, who had previously said, "I've watched CNN. I didn't notice a lack of archival material from that flight," now tells reporters, "The report, I believe, will be concluded at some point this week. We'll release its findings and release a photo." The flight cost over $328,000 and was apparently spurred by the White House Military Office's desire to update its file photos of Air Force One near the canyons of buildings in lower Manhattan. more ›

Let's take the Air Force One flyover incident into yet another day! Fox News wanted to calculate the cost beyond the $328,835 it cost to fly the Boeing 747 and fighter jets on Monday, so it asked Mayor Bloomberg's office "how much the city had to spend to deal with the panic." Apparently NYC 911 got flyover-related 97 calls (about a 15% increase) in an hour while Jersey City said it received about 13 calls. more ›

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.

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. more ›

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.] more ›

Earlier this morning we got a concerned email about a commercial-size jet flying uncomfortably low over Lower Manhattan, where buildings were being evacuated. Another tipster at 2WFC said announcements in that building declared "there’s no emergency and that we all need to stay inside." Soon after word came out that it was just Air Force One, keeping New Yorkers on their toes! From the newswire: "AUTHORIZED FLY-OVER OF THE STATUE OF LIBERTY BY AIR FORCE ONE FOR A PHOTO SHOOT. THE PRESIDENT WAS *NOT* ON BOARD." more ›

Rebecca Lobo, WNBA Commentator more ›

President Bush wanted to freak out little kids from a softball team, so he dropped his dog Barney before boarding Air Force One. Barney did not suffer any injuries, but did have to be kissed by Bush. more ›

Harrison Ford, where art thou? You're our Han Solo, our Indiana Jones...hell, our Jack Ryan (we need a good CIA hero in this day and age, we suppose). It seems you've been going through a three-quarter-life crisis. In love with Calista Flockhart? The earring? The crappy movies? It's so sad to Gothamist that you have to star in a movie with Bedhead (as for Hollywood Homicide, A.O. Scott likes it, Manohla Dargis doesn't). Yes, you're the most popular star on the earth, but we're waiting for Fametracker to do a Fame Audit. more ›

Gothamist loves to see awkward situations that we're not involved in, and that's certainly the case with our President and French leader Jacques Chirac. The Times shows that everyone else (at least White House reporters) is as interested in Bush-Chirac relations: more ›