Air Force One Photo Opp Triggers Panic in Manhattan

[tekisui]

Source: ABC News

A photo shoot involving a 747 used as Air Force One and two fighter jets flying at low altitude led to hundreds of frightened calls from residents and workers in Lower Manhattan this morning, triggering memories of 9-11 as many evacuated their offices. The president was not aboard.

Although the shoot was authorized, the normal system of public notification broke down, multiple officials said.

"It scared a couple of million people," one airport official said.

According to officials, the flight -- authorized by the FAA -- came in as low as 1000 feet to 150 feet above the city as it made a large circle over Manhattan, Staten Island, and New Jersey. The plane used was the back up presidential plane. Self-evacuations of buildings in lower Manhattan and New Jersey, including the New York Mercantile Exchange, took place during the fly over. According to multiple agencies, they were notified of the flyover last week, however the general public was not notified. The Defense Department conducted the photo opportunity over the Hudson River. The planes flew over Lower Manhattan and in the vicinity of the Statue of Liberty during a 15 minute, pre-planned flight.

Local authorities were told not to disclose information about this morning's flyover, the New York City Police Department said in a statement.

more: http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=7439287&page=1
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Weird.

[Richardo]

1. Great.

I can hear the RW shitheads already: That self-aggrandizing Obama was in the plane, maybe piloting it! and putting millions at risk. By the time Hannity's show comes on I'm sure we'll be hearing that he actually mowed down the Statue of Liberty.

The President will be blamed, make no mistake.

[tekisui]

2. Was this really a photo op? Or could there be more to the story?

[bluebellbaby]

4. Good Question? Doubt will ever know...

[no limit]

5. Just as long as you are wearing your tin-foil hat you should be okay!

[tekisui]

7. With tin-foil on....

I would wonder if it was a 'war game' or testing a worst case scenario. Or...who knows?

[bluebellbaby]

8. I knew I forgot something this morning...dang it!

:tinfoilhat:

[alcibiades_mystery]

3. Dumb

[msanthrope]

6. A "photo shoot"? I call bullshit. n/t

[Echo In Light]

10. Strange days have been upon us...apparently getting stranger yet

[tekisui]

11. As do I.

A photo shoot? First off, for what?

Second, people should have known.

Third, what was really going on? Practice? War-game? Something worse?

[KittyWampus]

16. they were spraying Swine Flu virus....

:tinfoilhat:

[msanthrope]

22. Look, I keep my tinfoil hat shiny-side out, like you are supposed

to....

And I certainly do not underestimate the stupidity of government officials.

But this does not seem to be a "photo shoot." Who is taking the pictures????

The fighter jets?

And why would you use the Air Force One backup for this?

[Better Believe It]

12. I think you're right. A pretty transparent "cover story".

But for what? We can only guess.

We'll find out in about 20 years .... maybe.

It's classified.

[tekisui]

13. That is what I can't figure out.

Practice? War game? Hijacking? I doubt the President was on it, but who knows?

[NYCGirl]

15. No, the President was not on board. And, the first photo was published on Twitter.

http://gothamist.com/2009/04/27/buildings_evacuated_as_air_force_on.php

[CJCRANE]

9. Did a neocon mole in the DOD come up with this idea?

It seems to be the perfect story and image to get the freeps all riled up.

[L0oniX]

14. The st00pid asscarrots knew it would scare people. Bunch of assholes!

[CJCRANE]

17. We need to find out whose idea it was first.

But my first instinct is that this looks like Rovian "creating reality". We all know exactly what thoughts these images will conjur up in the Repub base.

[tekisui]

18. People panicked and evacuated buildings.

Something very strange happened today, and it involved a Presidential plane.

[Beetwasher]

19. My Wife Watched The Whole Thing, SAYS She Thinks It Was "KOREA AIR"

My thread from this morning. I was on the phone w/ her as it was happening. People were freaking.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5543020&mesg_id=5543020

[tekisui]

20. Korea Air?

Dis she read that on the plane, because it's being reported as an Air Force One plane.

[Beetwasher]

23. Not Sure Now

Just spoke to her again and now she's not sure it was Korea Air.

[Garbo 2004]

21. WSJ has a video:

http://online.wsj.com/video/low-flying-plane-causes-scare-in-manhattan/A5B50086-079E-4F6F-97FA-24596881935F.html

I would imagine if New Yorkers saw a big passenger airliner flying around the city at an unusually low altitude followed by a military jet, there might be some concern... Like, duh. But apparently no one in charge of this imagined that. Jeez. Talk about "tone deaf."

What geniuses thought not to notify the public? Was this part of some DOD PR campaign? "Keeping you safe while needlessly scaring the crap out of you" kind of approach?

[Garbo 2004]

24. CNN just aired a pretty good video of the plane in flight. Looked like AF 1. n/t

[TheCoxwain]

25. Adobe Photoshop anyone?? Photoshop for Photo-op... simpler, cheaper, faster.