News: Just plain dumb: Low-flying jet over NYC for "photo shoot"

TC

Quote:

Jets fly over lower NYC, causing scare
White House official apologizes after thousands flee buildings in panic
April 27, 2009

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A White House official apologized Monday after a low-flying Boeing 747 spotted above the Manhattan skyline frightened workers and residents into evacuating buildings.

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

"Last week, I approved a mission over New York. I take responsibility for that decision," said Louis Caldera, director of the White House Military Office. "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."

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

Two officials told CNN 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, which sparked fear in the New York-New Jersey area.

"The president was furious about it," one of the officials said. The incident outraged many New Yorkers, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "First thing is, I'm annoyed -- furious is a better word -- that I wasn't told," he said, calling the aviation administration's decision to withhold details about the flight "ridiculous" and "poor judgment."

Linda Garcia-Rose, a social worker who counsels post-traumatic stress disorder patients in an office just three blocks from where the World Trade Center towers once 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 post-traumatic stress disorder patients ages 15 to 47, said she was inundated with phone calls from patients Monday morning.

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

Garcia-Rose 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 said local law enforcement agencies and the Federal Aviation Administration had been given notice of the exercise.

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

Sen. Chuck Schumer echoed the mayor's sentiments in a separate news conference Monday afternoon, saying the Federal Aviation Administration should have notified the public to avoid panic.

"It is absolutely outrageous and appalling to think that the FAA would plan such a photo shoot and not warn the public, knowing full well New Yorkers still have the vivid memory of 9/11 sketched in their minds," the New York Democrat said. Schumer said the FAA's decision to not announce the fly-by "really borders on being either cruel or very very stupid."

Building evacuations also took place across the Hudson River in Jersey City, New Jersey.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/27/low...ane/index.html

Flying a jet low over Manhattan? For a photo shoot? Are you kidding me? DUMB DUMB DUMB

Alexz

Oh my, imagine the New York citizens hysteria.

Raguabros

God, I would've run the hell out of there too.

DAY OFF!

MusicLoverDude

Photo shoot? Yeah right!

orange

...what the hell. Photo shoot? Really? At least let the citizens know beforehand if you are going to do something that ridiculous. It is silly to not expect anyone to notice and at the same time, not disclose any information to the public.

Quote:

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

#1katyperryfan

hmmm, thats the perfect place to do it...

REALLY?
gah people these days.

♥ Shakidrian ♥

i'm with that Gracia chick ...all for the money

<3

KarlosVzla

TC

You know what? More power to her (Garcia-Rose). It's nothing to laugh at. This thing scared the bejesus out of many people, stopped productivity for some time, and evacuated some entire buildings. If a lawsuit would hold some people accountable for dreaming up and authorizing this nonsense, let it be done.

orange

Oh, I was not laughing at her. It is just so ridiculous that there was someone in the government that was so careless about how this stupid thing would affect the public that they might get sued. Garcia-Rose has every right, seeing she has to deal with the traumatized, both with past and newly developed problems.

Lee!!

well that was dumb

kellyc2005

now watch the conspiracy theorists say they were trying to find out how to destroy the new WTC complex when it's finished in 2013....

toxnick

GODDAMN!
Thats not cute

Patrick

I can't wait for some of the radical conservative news commentators to try and spin this to look like Obama sanctioned photoshoot to take place in the manner that it did.

But seriously, why would anyone set up a photoshoot depicting a plane flying close to the New York skyline post 9/11?

Not only would it terrify the city itself, but the resulting photos would only conjure up painful memories and look blasphemous, as if they are somehow lampooning that horrible event. Use some basic reasoning White House Military Office!

Travis10

Quote:

Originally posted by orange

...what the hell. Photo shoot? Really? At least let the citizens know beforehand if you are going to do something that ridiculous. It is silly to not expect anyone to notice and at the same time, not disclose any information to the public.

**agrees**

Richard

Oh WTF?? So, NYC is the best place to make shoots like that

That pictures are really disturbing, why to make remember that horrible 9/11? At least, give some time of the people to not be totally scared
This is not dumb, is stupid

.:Allen:.

What's the point of that?

Flashing Lights

I saw that live! No one wants to know how traumatized I am after seeing that.

kellyc2005

Quote:

Originally posted by Flashing Lights

I saw that live! No one wants to know how traumatized I am after seeing that.

did you see 9/11 unfold in person too? I know that if I had witnessed 9/11 and then this, I would be traumatized.

Tibbits

I heard about this yesterday. How nonsensical.