White House apologizes for low-flying plane

[Guest guest]

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

White House apologizes for low-flying plane

updated 8:22 p.m. EDT, Mon April 27, 2009

By Mythili Rao

CNN

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 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. "

" 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. "

" I was here on 9/11, " said iReporter Tom Kruk, who spotted the plane as he was

getting coffee Monday morning and snapped a photo. Kruk called the sight of the

aircraft low in the sky " unsettling. "

-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. "

-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.

-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. Carpenter of s 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 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.

[Guest guest]

Ok, yes, it was needless that they would do this photo shoot in that location

and that context. Heck, it wouldn't have been that hard to do green screen

photography: I suspect no news station with a weather forecast goes without

doing exactly that every time.

But, going by the same logic, I'd have grounds to sue all users of large tower

construction cranes that moved or even looked like they were about to move,

wherever I go, because I had been traumatized by having one falling directly on

top of me, only separated by the frame of the apartment building I lived in that

kept me from being harmed while absorbing most of the blow (though my top floor

neighbor didn't survive to have mental side-effects).

We don't need richer lawyers!

> -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. "

>

> -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.

>

> -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.

>

[Guest guest]

There are companies, of there used to be, that would give aerial tours of cities and others that would take high quality pictures of cities from the air. This is probably what they were doing with Air Force One, actually one of the backup planes. It would have been possible to use special effects or to photoshop AF1 onto an existing commercial image of the city, but it would have looked terrible.

The whole point of this is that it could have so easily been avoided if someone in the administration had simply bothered to get on the phone with the mayor's office, the FAA, and whoever else to get the clearances. Since effectively the president would be asking, it isn't likely they'd be told no.

Were they worried about a terrorist trying to shoot the plane down with a missile if they learned of the schedule? Maybe, but exceedingly unlikely. Why, if they even had such a plan, bother executing it to shoot down an empty plane when they could wait for the real deal?

In a message dated 4/28/2009 3:49:39 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, no_reply writes:

Ok, yes, it was needless that they would do this photo shoot in that location and that context. Heck, it wouldn't have been that hard to do green screen photography: I suspect no news station with a weather forecast goes without doing exactly that every time. An Excellent Credit Score is 750. See Yours in Just 2 Easy Steps!