First the Video:
The Story via The NYT’s “City Room” Blog:
Updated, 5:52 p.m. | An Air Force One lookalike, 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.
But the exercise — conducted without any notification to the public — caused momentary panic in some quarters and led to the evacuation of several buildings in Lower Manhattan and Jersey City. By the afternoon, the situation had turned into a political fuse box, with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg saying that he was “furious” that he had not been told in advance about the flyover.
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.
The mission on Monday, officials said, was set up to create an iconic shot of Air Force One, similar to one that was taken in recent years over the Grand Canyon.
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.
A senior administration official said that an F.A.A. official notified Mayor Bloomberg’s office last week about the flyover. She said that Marc Mugnos, the director of operations in the office of citywide event coordination and management, was the official notified about the Air Force operation.
I bet the President is ticked. This happened once before in 2003; so, I’ll cut the current President some slack. But man. talk about dumb. 🙄
How many people are having freaking flashbacks now, and will be unable to sleep for weeks? Thank God nobody was hurt in traffic accidents or falls down the stairs, or heart attacks, caused by this moronic stunt.