As reported by The New York Times:
An Air Force One look-alike, the backup plane for the one regularly used by the president, flew low over parts of New York and New Jersey on Monday morning, accompanied by two F-16 fighters, so Air Force photographers could take pictures high above the New York harbor.
Photo taken with a cell phone by Jason McLane
The New York Times continues:
At 4:39 p.m. Monday, 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.
When President Obama learned of the episode on Monday afternoon, aides said, he, too, was furious. Senior administration officials conveyed the president’s anger in a meeting with Mr. Caldera on Monday afternoon.
According to Josh Marshall at TPM the DOD had apparently notified all the key agencies, FAA and local authorities - but they were instructed by the DOD not to share that information with the general public.
Marshall further shares the thoughts of a Talking Points Memo reader:
I actually work on a very high floor in 1 Liberty Plaza. The window to my back overlooks the WTC site and the Hudson river. This morning as I was working a co-worker came by my desk and started staring out the window. At first I had no idea what he was staring at so he pointed to the plane. By that time it was far away enough and when he told me that it was pretty low and close to the buildings in lower Manhattan I thought he might just be overreacting a little until the plane did its second (of what I think was 3) fly over. My co-worker said that he was pretty sure that it was Air Force One based on the colors but I didn't think anyone at the White House would be so completely brain dead to allow that to happen.
Whoever thought this was a good idea is a total idiot. Whoever thought it was a good idea to do this without mentioning anything about it to the public is a bigger idiot. If I'd gotten a memo the week before informing me this was going to take place I probably would have watched and thought 'hey that's pretty cool.' Instead I watched and thought 'I hope that plane doesn't crash into my building.' Followed by the thought 'I hope that plane doesn't hit one of the buildings in Jersey City' followed by 'If this isn't terrorism related why is that plane flanked by a fighter jet?'
It most assuredly would have been a good idea for the DOD to have informed Mayor Bloomberg of their plans:
Flying in as low as 1,000 feet to 1,500 feet above New York City and taking photographs along the way, the planes circled the Statue of Liberty and flew over Manhattan, Staten Island, and New Jersey - then vanished.
Before they were gone, hundreds of frightened people had jammed the emergency lines, thousands of terrified people evacuated from buildings in the city and across the river in Jersey, and many New Yorkers had flashbacks to the 9/11 attacks.
[Snip]
"I'm annoyed -- furious is a better word -- that I wasn't told," the mayor said.
UPDATES
The Explanation for the Flyover
An administration official says a presidential Boeing 747 and a fighter jet flew low near ground zero in New York City Monday because the White House Military Office wanted to update its file photo of the president's plane near the Statue of Liberty.
This official said the White House Military Office told the Federal Aviation Administration that it periodically updates file photos of Air Force One near national landmarks, like the statute in New York harbor and the Grand Canyon.
The official requested anonymity to give more details than the official White House announcement that took the blame.
And a startling video from the New York NBC website showing the panic this caused on the ground. [Sorry - don't know how to embed NBC's videos.]
And a H/T to Christian Dem in NC for providing the Link
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/...