9/11 Flashback for New Yorkers: White House Apologizes, Bloomberg Enraged
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on April 28, 2009
By Vicki McClure Davidson * Frugal Café Blog Zone
It was a dreadful 9/11 flashback for New Yorkers when an Air Force One lookalike, the backup plane for the one regularly used by Pres. Barack Obama, flew low over parts of New York and New Jersey on Monday morning.
The plane was accompanied by two F-16 fighters, so that Air Force photographers could take pictures high above the New York harbor with NYC landmarks, like the Statue of Liberty, in the photo.
The morning exercise, which was conducted without any notification to the public, caused panic in areas and led to the evacuation of several buildings in Lower Manhattan and Jersey City. People were racing out of buildings, terrified that the plane had been hijacked by terrorists or it was malfunctioning.
The flyover resulted in widespread confusion and a flood of calls to emergency hot lines. Officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and other authorities were inundated with calls from anxious residents, office workers, and ferry passengers.
NYC Low Flyover Scare of 747 and F-16 | NBC News
NEW YORK – One of the president’s official planes and a supersonic fighter jet zoomed past the lower Manhattan skyline in a flash just as the work day was beginning Monday. Within minutes, startled financial workers streamed out of their offices, fearing a nightmarish replay of Sept. 11.
For a half-hour, the Boeing 747 and F-16 jet circled the Statue of Liberty and the lower Manhattan skyline near the World Trade Center site. Offices evacuated. Dispatchers were inundated with calls. Witnesses thought the planes were flying dangerously low.
But the flyover was nothing but a photo op, apparently one of a series of flights to get pictures of the plane in front of national landmarks.
It was carried out by the Defense Department with little warning, infuriating New York officials and putting the White House on the defense.
By the afternoon, the panic of New Yorkers had escalated. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he was “furious” that he had not been informed in advance about the flyover. Jim Peters, an F.A.A. spokesman, disagreed, saying that “the photo op was approved and coordinated with everyone.” Notification was made in advance to the mayor’s office, “including its 911 and 311 operation centers,” the New York City Police Department, the New Jersey State Police, the United States Park Police and other agencies, he said.
Police confirmed that they had been notified, but that they had been barred from letting the public know.
Many NY government agencies also said they were not informed.
From the mayor:
“First thing is, I’m annoyed – furious is a better word – that I wasn’t told,” he said at a City Hall news conference held to discuss the swine flu cluster in Queens.
In unusually harsh language, the mayor criticized the Defense Department for conducting the exercise and the Federal Aviation Administration for being secretive about it.
“…Why the Defense Department wanted to do a photo-op right around the site of the World Trade Center catastrophe defies imagination. Poor judgment would be a nice ways to phrase it, but they did. I also think that once they had told us, we should have done a better job. Had I known about it, I would have called them right away and asked them not to. It is the federal government and they can do in the end what they please, but I would have tried to stop it. I don’t know there’s a lot else to say other than they shouldn’t have done it.”
Obama was also upset about the lack of notification, and the White House issued an apology for the flyover. Louis E. Caldera, director of the White House Military Office, who served in the Clinton administration as secretary of the Army, said in a statement:
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, it’s clear that the mission created confusion and disruption. I apologize and take responsibility for any distress that flight caused.
Call me quizzical. In this day and age of communication technology prowess and hyper-sensitivity to fringe groups, alternate lifestyles, and overseas terrorists, why on earth did this happen?
The apology was indeed prompt, which is all well and good, but didn’t anyone think to notify Chris Matthews or Katie Couric or Brian Williams last week about the scheduled flyover? What good is it to have the “Obama Fan Club” media in your hip pocket when you can use them anytime for legitimate communication instead of just maligning conservatives or former president Bush, but then drop the ball? One faxed memo to CBS or any other US news media would have done the trick to get the word out to New Yorkers. What ended up a public relations disaster could have easily been averted.
Bloggers are going wild with this Obama embarrassment. And the readers of blogs are likewise responding, most of which are in the negative. Here is one blog response posted on Gateway Pundit:
It shows that the threats we face are not even considered in the planning at the White House. They should have announced this days ahead of time and quite publicly considering it was NYC and a large aircraft off the normal flight path with a fighter trailing it. Boy do I feel secure with these deep-thinking pros of the Bumble Brigade in charge.
Make a note, Caldera: Put FOX, CBS, NBC, CNN, and ABC on speed-dial for the next WH flyover. New Yorkers are a tough lot, but this was a terrible and unnecessary thing to put them through. For many, the events of 9/11 will never be erased. And this thoughtless lack of communication likely has resurrected those gut-wrenching feelings of fear and dread for many.
Quite the coup de grâce for Obama’s “honeymoon,” his first 100 days as president. Rather fitting.
More on the NYC flyover:
Michelle Malkin: Heckuva job, Louie and Barry!
Andrea Shea King, World New Daily: Did president approve buzzing New York? Air Force officer: ‘It shows a kind of arrogance’
DONE (Democrats Over Nominating Elitists): New Yorkers Furious with Obama: Air Force One Photo Op Triggers Panic in Manhattan – ABC News
Doug Powers, Michelle Malkin: ‘I feel the need, the need to freak out New Yorkers!’ — Update: Wouldn’t ‘Photoshop’ have been cheaper?
JustOneMinute: Making Movies
The Ocean State Republican: White House Approved Air Force One Fly-over of NYC
Pajama Guy: Something in the Air
Gateway Pundit: Team Obama Freaks Out New York City (Video)
Talking Points Memo (TPM): On That Flyover Idea
Joe Windish, The Moderate Voice: Mistakes on a Plane
The Other McCain: ‘A Perfect Storm of Idiocy’
Another Rovian Conspiracy: The Stupid. It Hurts!
Radio Vice Online: Air Force One in Manhattan – Carbon pollution winner? Update: How much did this cost?
Peace and Freedom Promises: “Air Force Dumb” Closes Obama’s First 100 Days of Stupid Moves
Stephen Spruiell, The Media Blog on National Review Online: Photo-Op
USS Neverdock: Obama terrorizes New York
About the author
I’ve got to look past the bushes on this one.
The very idea that Obama was “outraged” about this is a red flag.
Air Force 1 or 2 does not leave Anderson AFB without the president’s knowledge. They exist to provide him with an escape if Washington is under attack.
The whole remarkable feat is indicative of the ignorance, and the “elitism” of this administration.
In order to put one of those birds in the air is an immense security exercise.
I feel this is another diversion.
The American people, or enough of them, better wake up before 2010, or we are really screwed.
Scare Force One Update: The White House aide who authorized the controversial Air Force One photo-op flight last week around the Statue of Liberty is out of a job. President Obama has accepted the resignation of Louis Caldera, the director of the White House Military Office, the Daily News learned Friday. White House aide Louis Caldera loses job over Manhattan flyover fiasco involving Air Force One http://pfx.me/lU
Wow, fast catch, Eclipse! I just read this on my “NY Times Alert” only moments ago.
Looks like Caldera has been thrown under the Obama bus… or out the Air Force One door…