Airforce One scares the crap out of Manhattan

Good one, FAA. Thousands of workers in Lower Manhattan today went into total panic when a Boeing 747 presidential aircraft— officially known by the call sign Air Force One, when President Obama is actually on board—flew low over New York harbor this morning. The massive blue and white plane, escorted by a pair of fighter jets, was apparently circling Lower Manhattan so that Air Force photogs could get pictures of Air Force One with the Statue of Liberty. The Staten Island Advance has posted several photos here, while the Wall Street Journal has some eerie video posted here, showing how the plane took almost the same flight path as those hijacked jetliners that crashed into the World Trade Center on 9/11. Yikes. Although the Federal Aviation Administration says it made local and state authorities aware of the photo-op, no one bothered to tell the public. In fact, the NYPD claims the FAA specifically asked for the mission to be kept secret—so secret that even New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he didnt know about it, which hes not exactly pleased about. "I'm annoyed--furious is a better word," Bloomberg said, telling reporters that he would have gone to White House to make the info public had he known.
Now the finger-pointing has begun. The FAA is directing questions to the Air Force, who is in turn directing questions to the White House. The only problem: The White House apparently doesnt know anything either. Asked at the press briefing this afternoon if the White House owes the citizens of New York City an apology, Gibbs said hed seen some news reports but knew zilch about it. Hes checking with the White House military office, which helps plan Air Force One logistics for details. Well bet that the White House is fielding some tense phone calls this afternoon from New York lawmakers. Sen. Chuck Schumer is trashing incompetence at the FAA for the flub. This was a photo shoot. There was no need for surprise, Schumer told reporters this afternoon. There was no need to scare thousand of New Yorkers who still have the vivid memory of 9/11.

***UPDATE***: The White House is sorry. Here's a statement just sent out from the press office:

Statement from Louis Caldera, Director White House Military Office, on Air Force One flight over New York

Last week, I approved a mission over New York. I take responsibility for that decision. While federal authorities took the proper steps to notify state and local authorities in New York and New Jersey, its clear that the mission created confusion and disruption. I apologize and take responsibility for any distress that flight caused.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• air
• force
• airforce
• one
• f-16
• f16
• 9/11
• bloomberg
• manhattan
• new
• york
• city
• nyc

[16armygirl]

Wow nice going Obama Bin Lauden. sorry to say this but... Obama your the most retarded president we ever had.. you spend trillions of dollars take vacations way to often and you didnt even know u were flying over New York! Our U.S. government is a joke... And for those who wrote comments saying that the people should have known it was airforce one STFU! Go back to where u came from obama... u towel head!

[Eiraha]

How stupid did everyone feel after it went by? lol

[Xenomorphism]

And people really don't think 9/11 was an inside job.

[newm123]

Google the image the white house got that day, they could have easily photo shopped the dam plane, but no. They had to spend Tens of thousands of tax payer dollars and oh yeah, scare the hell out of a city already traumatized. Washington is one big joke.

[AirForceRabbits]

Even if Air Force One WAS hijacked (highly unlikely), what made people think it would be smart to run TOWARD the direction the plane was flying in? Also, where was that F-16's wingman? Knowing what the Boeing 747 was doing, the second F-16 was probably doing what Tom Cruise did in the intro scene of the movie "Top Gun" to a taxi.

[TheXboxPros]

i was there and i was like are we going to die

[BizzyBone1994]

lmfaoo xDDDD

[limidge]

Obama just thought "Hey! Everybody loved W after 9/11.... maybe I can cash in on that too!"

dumbass. 2012 can't come soon enough.

[ASRBanshee]

kind of funny how everyone RUNS away like a bunch of sheep or cattle. Any you cant blame anyone of them, no one trusts the fucking government anymore, Saddam Hussein and other people like Anwar Sadat are absolute amateurs compared to our government when hiding conspiracies. Then they complain why all other nations hate us.

[lyricalpoet10]

It's funny how people are so quick to blame Obama for the last 9 years of their lives. Obama wasn't even a media or a global thought then.