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plane over hudson


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Some military aircraft flying over lower Manhattan caused a brief scare for residents, workers, and pedestrians on Monday, but CBS 2 has learned the jets are part of a Department of Defense photo shoot and that there is no threat to the city.
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Air Force One ‘Photo Mission’ Over Hudson Evokes 9/11 (Update1)

By Peter S. Green and John Hughes

 

April 27 (Bloomberg) -- An Air Force One backup plane swooping

over New York Harbor, escorted by U.S. Air Force F-16 fighters for

a Pentagon photo opportunity, frightened Wall Street workers and

evoked fears of another terrorist attack.

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Plane stupid: Mayor Bloomberg outraged over military photo-op involving low-flying presidential jet

BY Kenneth R. Bazinet, Frank Lombardi and Corky Siemaszko

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Updated Monday, April 27th 2009, 9:52 PM

 

Just plane dumb.

 

A perfect storm of idiocy led to a frightening 9/11 flashback for thousands of New Yorkers Monday when a jumbo jet and an F-16 fighter jet buzzed lower Manhattan without warning.

 

A "furious" Mayor Bloomberg denounced the dunces who dreamed up the stunt - and the NYPD officials and bureaucrats who never told him about it.

 

By day's end, an obscure City Hall deputy named Marc Mugnos, who makes $60,000 a year, was taking the fall for not telling Bloomberg that the low-flying planes were coming. He was reprimanded.

 

But there was plenty of blame to go around.

 

Louis Caldera, the director of the White House military office who sent Air Force One and the fighter jet on an "aerial photo mission," got slammed by an angry President Obama.

 

"I approved a mission over New York," Caldera said in a hastily prepared statement. "I apologize and take responsibility for any distress that flight caused."

 

Obama was not on the flight.

 

Sources said the chief reason for the panic-inducing flight was to create souvenir pictures of Air Force One flying over the Statue of Liberty to be given out - like a presidential tie clip - to family, friends or supporters.

 

Air Force One has done flyovers of historic sites and monuments like Mount Rushmore and the Golden Gate Bridge for PR glam shots - at taxpayer expense.

 

Told to stay quiet about mission

 

Caldera did not state a reason for the "mission" in his apology, but he insisted that "federal authorities took the proper steps to notify state and local authorities in New York and New Jersey."

 

NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said the department was told of the "aerial photo mission" last Thursday but was ordered to stay quiet about it. But they did alert 911 operators at 7 a.m. to tell callers it was an authorized military mission, he said.

 

Bloomberg said he found out that his city was being buzzed by planes when his BlackBerry began buzzing with complaints.

 

"I'm annoyed - furious is a better word - that I wasn't told," the mayor said. "If I had known about it, I would have called them right away and asked them not to."

 

The planes appeared on the horizon around 10 a.m. and sent a chill through the city.

 

Flying in as low as 1,000 feet to 1,500 feet above New York City, they circled the Statue of Liberty before flying over Manhattan, Staten Island and New Jersey.

 

Before they vanished, hundreds of frightened people had jammed emergency phone lines, and thousands of terrified people evacuated from buildings in the city and across the river in New Jersey.

 

"I was crying and praying to God to forgive me my sins because I thought I was going to get killed," said Kathleen Filandro, who fled from 1New York Plaza when she spotted the planes.

 

"It's like someone coming up to you, sticking a gun to your head for 15 seconds, walking away and hearing 20 minutes later it was an undercover cop posing for a photo," said Wall Street worker Bill Privett.

 

"I am still shaking," he said.

 

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs appeared taken aback as reporters peppered him with questions about the incident.

 

"I have no information beyond what I saw" on news reports, Gibbs said at his afternoon press conference.

 

A short time later, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel tracked down Caldera and "relayed the President's displeasure," sources said.

 

"The President was furious," a White House insider said.

 

Mugnos, who is the city's director of operations for the Office of Citywide Event Coordination and Management, could not be reached for comment.

 

The Federal Aviation Administration said it notified Mugnos - as well as the NYPD and the New Jersey State Police - on April 22 about the planned flyover.

 

The flyover involved one of the customized Boeing 747s that serves as Air Force One when the President is aboard.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Yes because Obama specifically sorts out the AF1 schedule every day so it's his fault. :wacko:

 

I know where my car is, where my boat is, where my barge is, and where my little K-truck is. I also have a pretty good idea where my wife's car is. I'm guessing you know where your vehicles are too.

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Sources said the chief reason for the panic-inducing flight was to create souvenir pictures of Air Force One flying over the Statue of Liberty to be given out - like a presidential tie clip - to family, friends or supporters.

 

Don't these jackholes know how to use Photoshop?!? Heck, I saw a half elephant half parrot the other day.

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