View Full Version : F16 accompanying commercial jet to NY airport
angelic111
27th Apr 2009, 14:17
F16 JET ACCOMPANYING A COMMERCIAL JET TO A NEW YORK AIRPORT - REASON NOT KNOWN
Reuters reporting the above. Anyone know anything else about this?
The Wall Street Journal says "Commercial-size jet seen flying low over Hudson River was part of scheduled test. FAA said plane circling Lower Manhattan is part of "photo op.""
angelic111
27th Apr 2009, 14:27
Why no warning though? Shouldn't the press have been tipped off if it was a "photo op". Very odd. Apparently a few big financial companies started evacuating (Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley) too...
More . . .
A plane circling Lower Manhattan escorted by two fighter jets is part of a “photo op,” said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters.
Mr. Peters said the Defense Department is conducting a photo op that involves deploying two F-16s and escorting a Boeing 747 in the vicinity of Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. He said the maneuver is not an emergency and was coordinated in advance with the FAA and state and local officials.
“They’ll do two or three spins… and be done by 10:30,” Mr. Peters said.
Readers: Did You See the Low-Flying Jet Over Lower Manhattan? - The Middle Seat Terminal - WSJ (http://blogs.wsj.com/middleseat/2009/04/27/readers-did-you-see-the-low-flying-jet-over-lower-manhattan/)
angelic111
27th Apr 2009, 14:33
This is the plane apparently:
F16 chasing a jumbo jet headed to my floor;turned around at l... on Twitpic (http://twitpic.com/43nkb)
And some people evacuating:
Twitpic - Share photos on Twitter (http://twitpic.com/43nm8)
angelic111
27th Apr 2009, 15:03
Now they're saying it's Air Force One. None of this makes sense at all.
A photo oportunity involving President Barack Obama's backup plane flying over the Statue of Liberty created a stir in New York City on Monday, but authorities said it was only an authorized exercise.
Obama was not on board.
"Please be advised the U.S. Air Force conducted an authorized photo flyover of the downtown Manhattan area this morning," the New York Police Department advised local businesses in an e-mail alert.
Update with video . . .
Low-Flying Plane in Manhattan Was a 'Photo-Op,' FAA Says - WSJ.com (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124084127590859371.html#video%3DA5B50086-079E-4F6F-97FA-24596881935F%26articleTabs%3Darticle)
AltFlaps
27th Apr 2009, 16:36
How stupid are these people ?
Security paranoia is rife in the US, and is encouraged by the Government at every oportunity ...
To then pull a stunt like this wtihout warning (Air Force One or not) is monumentally stupid
You people need to get a :mad: grip
Marsh Hawk
27th Apr 2009, 17:47
New York City has a good reason to be paranoid about low flying jumbo jets. Someone made a really boneheaded decision here in not notifying the public about this "photo op".
stepwilk
27th Apr 2009, 18:05
It wasn't Air Force One, it was a 747 "simulating" being AF1 for photos.
hetfield
27th Apr 2009, 18:09
I have the impression the US are going completly mad, e.g.
http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/371681-air-france-diverted-no-fly-list.html
Sorry to say, folks over there...
regards
Mercenary Pilot
27th Apr 2009, 18:37
How thoughtless :(
deltayankee
27th Apr 2009, 19:23
Not sure I believe the "photo op" story. Whether it was for a still photo or a movie all they needed was a helicopter to take the background shot then they could have dropped in AF1 and an F16 with Photoshop or movie equivalents. For a movie they would never have bothered to arrange a real flypast. Either they are incompetent or there is something that they are not saying.
hetfield
27th Apr 2009, 19:27
commercial jet
That's funny....
(AIR FORCE ONE) ?
deltayankee
27th Apr 2009, 20:26
It wasn't Air Force One, it was a 747 "simulating" being AF1 for photos.
Not important in my opinion, but most media actually say it was one of the two 747s used by the USAF for moving presidents around. Technically no airplane is "Air Force One" unless the president is actually aboard.
vapilot2004
27th Apr 2009, 20:59
It was a VC-25 and is one of two of the Presidential aircraft.
Updated, 4:48 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 flyover, which began around 10 a.m., resulted in widespread confusion and a flood of calls to emergency hot lines. Perplexed officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and other authorities were inundated with calls from anxious ferry passengers, office workers and residents.
From NY Times (http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/air-force-one-backup-rattles-new-york-nerve/)
oversteer
27th Apr 2009, 22:09
Accompanying video here:
YouTube - Video of Air Force Airplane "Photo-Op" That Caused Panic in New York City and Jersey City (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMoy8JprKI0)
Tmbstory
28th Apr 2009, 07:34
How stupid for the Authorites to do a jolly such as this!
When the President of the USA critiicizes Companies for using Corporate Jets in these times of economic dowturn, they then come up with this action.
It is hard to believe.
Tmb