Tuesday 28 April 2009

There Must Be More To This Story,

a 747 flies low over New York chased by a F-16, the story goes that businesses shut down, buildings were evacuated and the city came to a standstill as they waited in fear to see if the Big Apple was under attack again, well that is what was reported in the UK's Daily Mail, Dominick Cadlioti, who works at the Mercantile Exchange, told the New York Post he instantly feared the worst when he saw the jets fly across the Manhattan skyline, another worker Jillian Pievarello said: 'You don't do this to people down here after all we have been through.' the mid-morning flyover made other traders jittery at the New York Mercantile Exchange, but a NYMEX spokeswoman said that it was not evacuated, NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said the plane and F-16 fighter jets had authorisation to fly across New York, including past the Statue of Liberty, He confirmed local authorities were given a directive not to inform the public about the flyover and that any inquiries were to be directed to the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), all that fuss over just a photo shoot, simply a photo stunt for President Obama, so that's alright then, I wonder why with unlimited funds they could not have done it on a computer?

3 comments:

Jil Wrinkle said...

Wow... that Daily Mail sure knows how to distort stuff.

The "operation" was planned by the military-support division of the Executive Branch (who operate the Presidential planes as well as the honor guard and other ceremonial platoons) in order to get some updated photos of the the "Air Force One" plane flying by the Statue of Liberty.

All of the local aviation control authorities were informed of the flight, but local governments were not.

No businesses closed, no buildings were evacuated, and although people interviewed were initially jittery, once they saw it was the light blue "Air Force One" plane, they stopped worrying.

President Obama knew nothing of the operation (any more than he is told of the cleaning schedule or maintenance schedule of his plane), and the person who scheduled the "photo op" flight apologized after the fact for not informing "people on the ground" of the operation.

(President Obama apparently was pretty pissed off upon hearing about this as well.)

PattayaStan said...

Dear Jil, the BBC got it wrong as well! from yesterday-

The White House has apologized after a low-level flight by a presidential jet and a fighter plane sparked panic among New York City office workers.

The half-hour flight triggered the evacuation of a number of office buildings in the city.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he was "furious" about the incident, criticizing those responsible for failing to warn the public.

The president was not on board the flight, which was organized to take photographs of Air Force One against the New York skyline.

I must admit I always thought that the president was responsible for the what ever the air force does regarding war planes, F-16's, but I guess not, still the question remains as I said, why not get the guy’s that did the special effects for say Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter to do it? Taking the cost of the fuel and manpower onboard it might have even been cheaper in the studio!

Below in today’s BBC news,

The half-hour flight triggered the evacuation of a number of office buildings in the city - Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he was "furious" he had not been warned.

The White House has apologized for the incident.

The president was not on board the flight, which was organized to take photographs of the presidential jet against the New York skyline.

best regards, Stan and Diana.

PattayaStan said...

Dear Jil, this from todays The Sun newspaper,

President Obama – said to be "furious" by the stunt – was not on board the plane at the time.

Angry New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said: "The good news is it was nothing more than an inconsiderate, badly conceived and insensitive photo op with the taxpayers' money.

"They should know how sensitive people would be if they had low-flying planes down around the World Trade Centre site."

Mr Bloomberg said he would have protested had he known and blamed a breakdown in communications.

Louis Caldera, director of the White House Military Office, said he approved the mission and took responsibility for the 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," he said.

"I apologise and take responsibility for any distress that flight caused."

I am mightly impressed that some one has taken the blame and not passed the buck! best regards, Stan and Diana.