Low-flying jet unsettles New Yorkers

[beachreader]

I heard this story on the news in the car a little while ago.

People were really scared and are now asking what the photo shoot pictures will be used for.

Low-flying jet unsettles New Yorkers


5 min ago NEW YORK (CNN) -- Workers and residents evacuated themselves from several downtown Manhattan buildings Monday morning after a low-flying Boeing 747 was spotted above the city's skyline.


The aircraft was a White House plane taking part in a government-sanctioned photo shoot, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Louis Caldera, director of the White House Military Office, apologized for the confusion Monday. ...

People reported seeing the plane circle over the Upper New York Bay near the Statue of Liberty before it flew up the Hudson River. It was accompanied by two F-16s

[Wellll]

It seems to me Mr. Caldera is a horse's ass and should have known better. I am guessing there will be a job opening soon in the White House Military Office......

[beachreader]

Official who OK'd N.Y. flyby accused of 'felony stupidity'

Story Highlights
NEW: Ex-Bush adviser questions whether director should head White House office

White House 747 was taking part in official photo shoot, FAA says

Official says President Obama "furious" about incident

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A former Homeland Security adviser Tuesday blasted the White House Military Office's photo shoot that sent a low-flying Boeing 747 over Manhattan, accusing the office's director of "felony stupidity."

Witnesses reported seeing a plane circle over the Upper New York Bay near the Statue of Liberty.

Fran Townsend, who advised President George W. Bush for more than three years, spoke the day after a YouTube video showed panicked New Yorkers scrambling as the plane, tailed by its F-16 escort, screamed overhead.

"It was crass insensitivity," Townsend said of the Monday flyby. "I'd call this felony stupidity. This is probably not the right job for Mr. Caldera to be in if he didn't understand the likely reaction of New Yorkers, of the mayor."

Louis Caldera, director of the White House Military Office, quickly apologized for the incident after the planes prompted workers and residents to evacuate buildings in New York and New Jersey. Watch the White House apologize »

"Last week, I approved a mission over New York. I take responsibility for that decision," Caldera said. "While federal authorities took the proper steps to notify state and local authorities in New York and New Jersey, it's clear that the mission created confusion and disruption."

The Federal Aviation Administration said the aircraft, which functions as Air Force One when the president is aboard, was taking part in a classified, government-sanctioned photo shoot.

An angry Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it "defies the imagination" that an agency would schedule the photo shoot so near the site of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center.

President Obama also reportedly expressed outrage. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, said the FAA's decision to not announce the flyby "borders on being either cruel or very, very stupid."

The YouTube video shows dozens of people standing in a parking lot, watching the plane approach. As it nears, they begin to run. Someone unleashes an expletive. "Run, run!" says one person. "Oh my God," cries another.

Two officials said the White House Military Office was trying to update its file photos of Air Force One. The officials said the president was angry when he learned Monday afternoon about the flight.

"The president was furious about it," one of the officials said.

Bloomberg said the president wasn't alone.

"I'm annoyed -- furious is a better word -- that I wasn't told," he said, calling the FAA's decision to withhold details about the flight "ridiculous" and "poor judgment."

"Why the Defense Department wanted to do a photo op right around the site of the World Trade Center defies the imagination," he said. "Had we known, I would have asked them not to."

Linda Garcia-Rose, a social worker who counsels post-traumatic stress disorder patients in an office three blocks from where the World Trade Center stood, called the flight an "absolute travesty."

"There was no warning. It looked like the plane was about to come into us," she said. "I'm a therapist, and I actually had a panic attack."

Garcia-Rose, who works with nearly two dozen patients ages 15 to 47, said she was inundated with phone calls from patients.

"They're traumatized. They're asking 'How could this happen?' They're nervous. Their anxiety levels are high," she said.

Garcia-Rose said she is considering filing a class-action suit against the government for sanctioning the plane's unannounced flight.

"I believe the government has done something really wrong," she said.


Capt. Anna Carpenter of Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland said local law enforcement agencies and the FAA had been given notice of the exercise.

New York Police Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne said the department had been alerted about the flight "with directives to local authorities not to disclose information about it."

[Pal]

That's ridiculous! I still don't like to see planes flying low and I can't imagine what terrors that brought back to the poor people of NYC........

A little common sense goes a long way....

[beachreader]

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QUOTING FROM POSTER: Wellll;1866491 (Post Number)

It seems to me Mr. Caldera is a horse's ass and should have known better. I am guessing there will be a job opening soon in the White House Military Office......

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Looks/sounds like a lot are agreeing with that.

[Skeeter]

I"m going to find the article and watch the videos. I had heard this story, but just bits and pieces. Sounds like someone's joining the unemployment circus!

[Skeeter]

OMG -- I can't imagine if I had been there -- I'm actually surprised the guy that caught the planes flying was so calm and quiet on the video. I would have been screaming.

[Monicauf1]

On the news last night- probably NBC since that is what I usually watch, they showed people who were working running out, you could tell they were very scared, one man this morning on the news said it reminded him and others in the office of 9/11 and they all started running afraid the plane was going to hit their building, no one should ever have to re-live that day- that person who was in charge of this stupid stunt needs to be fired and now.

[SavhLaney]

Does anyone know if Obama has commented on this?

[Skeeter]

And the lovely Mr Gibbs responds -- or not --

www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/28/low.flying.plane/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

[Skeeter]

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QUOTING FROM POSTER: SavhLaney;1866499 (Post Number)

Does anyone know if Obama has commented on this?

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I see that he's angry -- but can't see quotes.

Mr Gibbs (his press secretary)'s response/non-response is in the video above.

[SavhLaney]

I had read that he's understandablt angry, but had not seen any direct statements.

[beachreader]

Obama orders review of New York City flyover
AP

41 mins ago

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has ordered an internal review to determine how the decision was made to send of one of his official airplanes on a low-flying photo op past the New York City skyline.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday that deputy chief of staff Jim Messina will lead the review. Gibbs said the point is to determine "why that decision was made and to ensure that it never happens again."

Gibbs said Obama was "furious" when he heard about the incident. Obama has called it a mistake.

On Monday, one of the Boeing 747s used by Obama and an F-16 jet circled the Statue of Liberty at the start of the work day, startling workers in lower Manhattan who feared a nightmarish replay of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Gibbs said that the review would likely take about a week or so to complete. He said he would have to confer with White House lawyers before answering a question about whether the results would be made public.

The director of the White House military office, Louis Caldera, took the blame for the incident in a statement Monday.

[beachreader]

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QUOTING FROM POSTER: SavhLaney;1866506 (Post Number)

I had read that he's understandablt angry, but had not seen any direct statements.

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Here is a video of his thoughts about it:

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090428/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_low_flying_plane_obama

[AttilaTHEhung]

This only proves that there is no one in control in Washington DC and the right hands have no clue what the left hands are doing, yet they're all on the same team.

Hang on to anything you can American people, when irresponsible lust for headlines is valued more than the state of the country or its people there is no doubt we are traveling down the wrong road.

[Mia]

According to local news, the 'stupids' told the police, but nobody else. Police were told not relay notice to anyone else. That is just insane!

I see low flying planes on the way to LaGuardia airport (across the river from me) and I get a creepy feeling. I can only imagine how those in lower Manhattan felt.

[Skeeter]

I can't even imagine the fear they felt.