An Air Force One look-alike flew low over Manhattan and parts of Jersey City this morning, accompanied by two F-16 fighters. The flyover rattled New Yorkers and Jersey City residents, and led to the evacuation of several buildings in Lower Manhattan and Jersey City.
Air Force One Flyover
New Yorkers are a little bit sensitive to low-flying jet planes in their airspace. Remember a little incident called 9/11? So when a large, low-flying jet flew over their skyline accompanied by two fighter jets on Monday morning, needless to say, many phoned emergency services and evacuated their buildings.
Fortunately, this was not some sort of attack, but an unbelievably boneheaded move by the FAA, Defense Department, the White House Military Office, and local authorities to create a photo opportunity for the VC-25 jet and the two F-16 fighters. Apparently, photos of the jets as they fly over the New York area will be used to update file photos of Air Force One.
Did the authorities need to keep this a secret from the public? A simple warning might have prevented rampant fear in New York and New Jersey this morning.
As reported by the New York Times, many buildings in lower Manhattan were evacuated as residents saw a low-flying jet approach.
In One Liberty Plaza, which is close to the 9/11 attack site, workers simply started to run out of their buildings without any instructions because the planes appeared to be flying toward them.
Louis Caldera, director of the White House Military Office, has since apologized for the photo shoot and has taken full responsibility. This is an error in judgment of such magnitude and embarrassment to Obama that he will likely have no choice but to fire Caldera.
Really. This is mind-boggling. How did several layers of government allow this to happen without warning the public? What’s next? Will they send armed gunmen into Columbine High School during school hours for a TV show? Will they send trucks loaded with fake bombs into Oklahoma City during rush hour for a photo-op?
Think things through, please.
(BTW, I guarantee you half of New York will file a class action lawsuit against the government claiming that they suffered severe emotional distress from the incident).
See video of the planes below:
April 27th, 2009 at 10:09 am
So now we hear Obama himself authorized this?
What an insensitive moron.
April 27th, 2009 at 10:30 am
Is there not enough CG in this world that they had to do this the old fashion way?
April 27th, 2009 at 11:00 am
Word is that this was filming for an upcoming Angelina Jolie movie entitled “Salt”.
April 27th, 2009 at 11:01 am
inexcusable
April 27th, 2009 at 11:03 am
How did several layers of government allow this to happen without warning the public?
My guess is the same way that anything and everything, without exception, gets screwed up when several layers of government get involved. Not only does the left hand have no clue what the right hand is doing, but the right hand fingers are pretty vague on the right hand’s plan as well.
We’re lucky this is nothing more than a funny example of stupid government non-communication. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn people were hurt or killed in the panic resulting from something like this.
April 27th, 2009 at 11:06 am
[...] Right Pundits: BTW, I guarantee you half of New York will file a class action lawsuit against the government claiming that they suffered severe emotional distress from the incident [...]
April 27th, 2009 at 11:07 am
[...] Right Pundits: BTW, I guarantee you half of New York will file a class action lawsuit against the government claiming that they suffered severe emotional distress from the incident [...]
April 27th, 2009 at 11:33 am
But…but…. Obama brought all the misplaced fear of the last 8 years to an end. It was only a photo op…. no way this caused fear with the new administration in power.
April 27th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Can you imagine if the plan all along was to actually fly this puppy into a building ?
If it were up to me I would of issued a big “no f*ckin way” for the reason I just mentioned and also because it doesnt take a genius to figure out that some New Yorkers are gonna sh*t their pants.
Mike got it right. Almost any of us right here (except me) could probably generate a pic like this on our laptops.
April 27th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
You people are a little high strung. A plane does something unusual and the whole city panics.
Don’t you see that all this means the terrorists have actually won. Regardless of how many people they killed on 9/11, and it was a very small number, they have caused you to change your attitude and behavior. You are now living in fear, and that is one of terrorism’s goals.
Refuse to be terrorized people!
April 27th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Peter, having a low-flying plane over Manhattan tailed by F-16’s is more than a little unusual. People are right to panic when that happens. If someone walked into my office with a shotgun, I’d panic then, too. That doesn’t mean the terrorists won. It means that people are justifiably afraid to die.
As for a “very small number” died on 9/11. That comment is too idiotic to justify a response.
April 27th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Peter, you can admit it was provocative, can’t you? Isn’t it also true that big planes don’t normally fly that low in that area? And isn’t it also true that many of the people looking out the window on this day were probably doing the same on 9/11? It’s an image burned into our collective memories. This was just a dumb move.
Messing with our constitutional rights is an example of the “terrorists winning” in that we’re altering our normal day to day behavior. This is very different and people reacted rationally if they thought they saw danger coming.
April 27th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Peter.
It doesnt mean they’ve won. It just means that people have memories and whoever authorized this was an idiot who didnt take that into consideration. That idiot could well be Obama since it was his back up plane that flew the op !
If you take into consideration how hes angering Muslims and radicals by releasing memos and pics, apologizing for defending ourselves, Napolitanos head up her a$$ not knowing what shes doing, all the Americans she pi$$ed off with her report, Biden saying an international incident will test Obama, N. Korea now has nukes and delivery, Pakistan is getting slippery, etc…
I tend find myself looking up at the sky a little more often
April 27th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
“How did several layers of government allow this to happen without warning the public?”
You right-wingers would do well to remember that it was YOUR administration that allowed 9/11 to happen. Perspective, people.
April 27th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
This is in-excusable, not today where flying low in certain areas is a great security concern. I think the person who authorized this should be removed from their post immediately and assigned other tasks, such as getting in touch with people’s feelings and worries. This isn’t about being scared or who won, this is about a person (or group of people) who are totally insensitive to people’s feelings and are out of touch.
Even though, local authorities were alerted. NYC is a city of over 12 million people, you think all 12 million were alerted? What if the terrorists knew about this fly-by and decided to do the same at the same time? You think authorities would have been able to tell the difference? Doubtfully.
This is in-excusable and completely irresponsible and very amateur-like decision making.
I read somewhere that the person who authorized this is taking full responsibility? What does that mean exactly?
April 27th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
OK you Bush bashers out there, you cannot blame this stupid act on anybody but the Obama administration!!!!
April 27th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Dale:
It’s hilarious that you people are so incensed about this flyover. Were you this apoplectic at the Bush administration when the planes actually hit the Twin Towers?
April 27th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Lili, you have won the golden blogger award for the outright dumbest post ever!
Yeah we should be pissed at bush for getting attacked by terroists. i heard that bush was responsible for the extinction of the dinasaurs too. hey idiot, 3000 people were killed that day, how “hilarious” is that? -you insensitive waste of a human life. You should be waterboarded…I think that would be hilarious.
April 27th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Lili:
“You right-wingers would do well to remember that it was YOUR administration that allowed 9/11 to happen. Perspective, people.”
You would do well to remember that it was the BUSH ADMINISTRATION that was the first to actually come after these b*stards after a guy called Bill Clinton “ALLOWED” us be attacked by the same guys 4 or 5 times and did nothing while “ALLOWING” 911 to be planned on his watch.
Wise up
April 27th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Why Obama wanted to do an airplane photo op right around the site of the World Trade Center defies the imagination…
See this video my friend captured. Obama Photo Op Disaster: New Yorkers Running Scared in the Streets by Goldman Sachs
Video: http://tinyurl.com/c7ujkj
April 27th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
@Ignatius Reilly – Let’s see, 35,000 people PER YEAR die of the flu, 40,000 people PER YEAR die on our highways, and 500,000 people PER YEAR die of cancer.
So in the years since 9/11, nearly 5 million people have died from those three causes alone.
So, yes I think 3,000 people dying in a one-time event is a very small number.
The fact is, terrorism is an exceedingly rare event, and the likelihood of being killed or injured by a terrorist event is almost zero. That is why we shouldn’t be terrorized or automatically assume every anomalous event is terrorism. It almost certainly isn’t.
April 27th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Peter, yes, there are numbers bigger than 3,000. That doesn’t make 3,000 a small number. Yes, viruses and disease kill more people than terrorists. But that doesn’t mean terrorists aren’t dangerous.
“Every anomalous” event? Are you serious? A 747-sized jet flying over downtown Manhattan at a low altitude is beyond “anomalous.” It has not happened since 9/11.
Let’s suppose two guys with guns started walking around Columbine for a “movie shoot.” If the students started going crazy, would you say, “School shootings as a percentage of deaths nationwide, are really not statistically significant. The kids really should have known better than to panic.”
April 27th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Peter, with all due respect you’re a moron if you’re going to compare mindless germs and technology to men who plot murder and have an active plan to kill millions.
Disease and cars do not pursue humans with intent based on contempt.
“That is why we shouldn’t be terrorized or automatically assume every anomalous event is terrorism. ”
The point is that it wasnt anomalous.
it was almost an exact replecation of an actual event.
My mother is a holocaust survivor.
Once a month here in Hawaii we test our tsunami alert sirens. Each time she ends up under the dining room table sweating and crying. Does she believe that something like that will ever happen again ?
What do you think ?
Wise up
April 27th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
“Were you this apoplectic at the Bush administration when the planes actually hit the Twin Towers?”
LOL! lili succeeded in making THE dumbest statement I’ve read or heard all day. Congratulations.
April 27th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Although Peter would come in as a close second to lili for dumbest remarks.