NYC Mayor Furious After Low-Flying Planes Panic Workers

[TitsMcGee]

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday he's furious that the federal government flew a presidential Boeing 747 and two fighter jets near Ground Zero.

Bloomberg said the flyover so close to the World Trade Center site showed "poor judgment" and was insensitive, adding that he's furious that the NYPD and another city agency were notified last week, but didn't tell him.

If he had known, Bloomberg said he would have tried to stop it.

The White House issued an apology for the exercise.

"It's clear that the mission created confusion and disruption. I apologize and take responsibility for any distress that flight caused," White House Military Office Director Louis Caldera said in a White House-issued paper statement.

The maneuver over lower Manhattan was part of a "photo op," and not a cause for alarm, Federal Aviation Administration officials said, but that didn't stop several area buildings from evacuating.

The exercise involved two F-16s escorting President Obama's Air Force One backup plane in the vicinity of Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty, Reuters reported. FAA spokesman Jim Peters told The Wall Street Journal that the maneuver was not an emergency and was coordinated in advance with the FAA and state and local officials.

Obama was not on board, Reuters reported.

One businesswoman, who works near the waterfront in Jersey City, N.J., told FOX News that it looked like a plane was going to hit their building, and everyone in her office ran down the stairs because they were "frightened."

John Leitner, a floor trader at the New York Mercantile Exchange Building, said workers received no official prior announcement about the exercise. He said everyone panicked when they saw the low-flying planes and began running out of the building, mere blocks from the former World Trade Center site, around 10 a.m.

About 1,000 workers gathered along the Hudson River until a security officer with a bullhorn told them it was a planned exercise. Workers in other office buildings also reportedly spilled out into the street.

The New York Police Department confirmed the plane was part of a military photo shoot and buildings were being evacuated because they have their own security that thought it may have been something else.

Now wouldn't photoshopping something together have been cheaper, and less frightening for the people of NYC?

Edited April 28, 2009 by TitsMcGee

[Simon Bar Sinister]

Yes, but not as awesome

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

I read in a few places that city officials knew this was going to happen and just didn't think to tell anyone.

[Scary Guy]

I read in a few places that city officials knew this was going to happen and just didn't think to tell anyone.

Well that's how it went down the first time

[Simon Bar Sinister]

I read in a few places that city officials knew this was going to happen and just didn't think to tell anyone.

...including the mayor! Mayor Bloomberg's on the warpath right now 'cause the police & fire chiefs didn't tell him shit.

[TitsMcGee]

Frankly I'm suprised no one was hurt when everyone was running from buildings, or no one had a heart attack.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Isn't this just lovely info.

FAA Memo: Feds Knew NYC Flyover Would Cause Panic

A furious President Barack Obama ordered an internal review of Monday's low-flying photo op over the Statue of Liberty.

CBS 2 HD has discovered the feds will have plenty to question.

Federal officials knew that sending two fighter jets and Air Force One to buzz ground zero and Lady Liberty might set off nightmarish fears of a 9/11 replay, but they still ordered the photo-op kept secret from the public.

In a memo obtained by CBS 2 HD the Federal Aviation Administration's James Johnston said the agency was aware of "the possibility of public concern regarding DOD (Department of Defense) aircraft flying at low altitudes" in an around New York City. But they demanded total secrecy from the NYPD, the Secret Service, the FBI and even the mayor's office and threatened federal sanctions if the secret got out.

"To say that it should not be made public knowing that it might scare people it's just confounding," Sen. Charles Schumer said. "It's what gives Washington and government a bad name. It's sheer stupidity."

The flyover -- apparently ordered by the White House Office of Military Affairs so it would have souvenir photos of Air Force One with the Statue of Liberty in the background -- had President Obama seeing red. He ordered a probe and apologized.

"It was a mistake. It will never happen again," President Obama said.

The NYPD was so upset about the demand for secrecy that Police Commissioner Ray Kelly vowed never to follow such a directive again and he accused the feds of inciting fears of a 9/11 replay.

"Did it show any insensitivity to the psychic wounds New York City has after 9/11? Absolutely. No questions about it. It was quite insensitive."

The cost of the frivolous flight was about $60,000 an hour and that was just for Air Force One. That doesn't include the cost of the two F-16s that came along.

The mayoral aide who neglected to tell Mayor Michael Bloomberg about it was reprimanded.

[TitsMcGee]

Isn't this just lovely info.

FAA Memo: Feds Knew NYC Flyover Would Cause Panic

[Scary Guy]

Fearmongering for sure. They probably wanted to have something similar to The Patriot Act passed so they stir shit up so that people willingly give away their privacy for security.

[n0Mad]

Fearmongering for sure. They probably wanted to have something similar to The Patriot Act passed so they stir shit up so that people willingly give away their privacy for security.

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

-Benjamin Franklin, February, 1775

[Rev.Reverence]

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

-Benjamin Franklin, February, 1775

BEN=

...& this seems more like as Government SNAFU that a Mindfuck...

[Scary Guy]

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

-Benjamin Franklin, February, 1775

I know, I didn't actually quote it because I've already done so at least three times on here. Thanks for the month and year though, I didn't have those before.

[Rev.Reverence]

I know, I didn't actually quote it because I've already done so at least three times on here. Thanks for the month and year though, I didn't have those before.

Oh yeah...& reference the point that it was said in between the 1rst & 2nd Continental Congresses...

They musta' been talkin' at every pub about this subject back then, eh?

[Scary Guy]

Oh yeah...& reference the point that it was said in between the 1rst & 2nd Continental Congresses...

They musta' been talkin' at every pub about this subject back then, eh?

Maybe so, people were smarter back then after all. Or maybe none of them gave a shit then either. One thing is for sure they don't care either way at this point.