low plane flyover freaks out New York

[Duke87 1,070]

AP Story

...so, one question:

What the hell were they thinking!?

[Meg 368]

Originally posted by: Duke87

AP Story

...so, one question:

What the hell were they thinking!?

quote>

I don't think anyone has figured that out yet.  How did they think people were going to react? 

It reminds me of the day, years ago, when Bush decided he was going to surprise the visiting President of Mexico with a fireworks display.   Set it off in downtown DC at midnight on a Tuesday.  Woke up the whole city, who didn't know what the heck was going on.   He couldn't see why that was a problem or why he should have mentioned it to anyone.  and no one had the guts to point it out to him beforehand.

 

Getting back to recent events, someone is filming a movie here in DC.   One day they planned to film an explosion on the Potomac river.   They had the courtesy of telling everyone it was a pre-planned explosion and not to worry about it. 

The local news stations covered it with a lot of "okay, they are getting set up.  This is going to be a planned explosion.  Don't be concerned."

After all of that, it seemed to be a fairly minor explosion.  (It was a controlled Hollywood stunt.)   But at least people knew it was happened and didn't freak out about it.

From the article:

The FAA notified the New York Police Department of the flyover, telling them photos of the Air Force One jet would be taken about 1,500 feet above the Statue of Liberty around 10 a.m. Monday. It had a classified footnote that said, "Information in this document shall not be released to the public or the media."quote>

 

So the police knew but were told not to tell anyone?   What kind of bleep is that?

[GMT 389]

IF this FAA note is actually a true thing, I might take a look at it as a matter of safety... But I surely won't build a house on that one...

anyways

I'm by far no fan of any conspiracy bullspit whatsoever, but this is one thing that really makes me wonder about what happened and what we're told happened.

seriously, if they were so desperate to have a photo of the AF1 above Miss Liberty, why

1) they didn't fake it? because

2) there's not exactly great weather seen in any videos of this event, so the results might not be as good as CG would allow it nowadays

and

3) WHY THE HELL they make such a big secret out of it? Especially because this happened in NYC, where millions of people are beyond sensitive when it comes to low-flying planes

really, this sounds somewhat bogus to me

[Explodingsims 3]

Okay, lets fly some huge planes dangerously low over a crowded city without telling anyone.

Sounds good to me.

[Jezus53 18]

Personally, I would have thought nothing of it. I remember I was standing in the parking lot in the heart of Downtown San Jose, CA. Out of no where there is this huge BOOM. About thirty seconds later an F-16 shot across the sky and made a 180 degree turn right back towards me. Then another BOOM and it shot back. This was something like 1 year or 2 years after 911. For the thirty seconds after the BOOM I was like WTF was that? But once I saw the jet I was fine, it just broke the sound barrier. What I'm trying to say is, even though I heard this BOOM I didn't panic, I didn't over react, I stayed calm and looked around to try and explain what happened, which I really think no one did. Do the people there really think someone would have stolen Air Force One and just flew around in it for a half hour? Maybe it's just because I'm very insensitive about this stuff, but I would have just went huh what? Oh that's cool, then moved on with my life.

[Duke87 1,070]

Originally posted by: Jezus53

Do the people there really think someone would have stolen Air Force One and just flew around in it for a half hour? Maybe it's just because I'm very insensitive about this stuff, but I would have just went huh what? Oh that's cool, then moved on with my life.quote>

I doubt anyone on the ground would have been able to tell it was air force one without binoculars. All they'd see was a jet airplane, not unlike the two which were crashed into buildings near that exact spot 7½ years ago and caused so much horror and destruction.

See, you saw a military jet in San Jose and though nothing of it.... but that was in San Jose. An awful lot of the people working in lower Manhattan now were working there in 2001, and thus remember the events of that day vividly, having personally witnessed them.. and for some, having lost friends and/or family to them.

If you worked in lower Manhattan on 9/11 and were still working there now, you'd probably freak out about seeing/hearing/feeling a jet fly so low so close to the city, because the situation is just too similar. It would bring back all the bad memories of what happened the last time you felt that.

Which is why I'd imagine this wouldn't have caused quite so much panic if it had been done in... say, Chicago. It wouldn't seem like reliving a traumatic event in their past to them.

As for why being told not to tell anyone... yeah, security seems like the most likely reason. Don't want anyone interfering with the event, which they would be much more able to if they had prior knowledge and thus time to plan. Obama wasn't on board, nor was anyone else in a high political position... but then again, shooting it down in that position could potentially cause quite a bit of damage regardless, if it were to get shot and then carreen into the Statue of Liberty or Battery Park (or anything around there other than the harbor).

...which is why it was just altogether a bad idea.

[Meg 368]

Originally posted by: Jezus53

Personally, I would have thought nothing of it. . . .  Maybe it's just because I'm very insensitive about this stuff, but I would have just went huh what? Oh that's cool, then moved on with my life.quote>

As one who was living 1/2 mile away from the Pentagon crash, I can tell you that it feels different being there.

Originally posted by: Duke87

...which is why it was just altogether a bad idea.   quote>

 

Indeed.  The footage could easily have been generated by computer.

I understand that they were "saving money" by combining this with a training exercise.  But still, this does seem too obviously stupid to be taken at face value.

[Easy Bakes 253]

Looks like Louis Caldera will be looking for  job soon.

They have to blame some one for not having common sense, even if they were told exactly what to do.

And i will also point out : why it wasn't Computer generated? Would probably get a better result then relying on conditions being perfect for Photography in NYC in April.

[Jezus53 18]

Originally posted by: SkiGeek

Originally posted by: Jezus53

Personally, I would have thought nothing of it. . . .  Maybe it's just because I'm very insensitive about this stuff, but I would have just went huh what? Oh that's cool, then moved on with my life.quote>

As one who was living 1/2 mile away from the Pentagon crash, I can tell you that it feels different being there.

quote>

It probably does, but until I experience it, that is how I think I'll react.

[Meg 368]

Aide who approved Air Force One flyover in New York resigns

Can't say that I'm surprised.   A move that dumb, someone's head was going to roll.

[hym 358]

Apparently we paid over $300k and caused all this ruckus for this.

[Meg 368]

Aside from the idiocy of not telling people it was going on, I'm guessing there are plenty of people (including many right here), who could create that picture via photoshop.  I imagine that plane could be photoshopped flying over any number of places.

They were scheduled to pull a similar stunt in DC.  It has been called off.

[Easy Bakes 253]

Originally posted by: SkiGeek

Aside from the idiocy of not telling people it was going on, I'm guessing there are plenty of people (including many right here), who could create that picture via photoshop.  I imagine that plane could be photoshopped flying over any number of places.

They were scheduled to pull a similar stunt in DC.  It has been called off.quote>

Probably in about 20 minutes. 300K for about 20 minutes is good work if you can get it.

[ilikehotdogsalot 308]

Why don't they just photoshop the plane into the picture? I'm sure they could find someone good enough to do such a job...

[hym 358]

The reasoning was that they wanted to update the photo libraries of Air Force One.

[Meg 368]

It was being combined with a training mission so the cost wasn't entirely just for the picture. But they should have warned people. What was so blasted secret that they couldn't tell people it was planned?

[hym 358]

Originally posted by: SkiGeek

What was so blasted secret that they couldn't tell people it was planned?quote>

That the training mission could have been done somewhere else, perhaps?

[Fraghawk444 3]

I live in a smal west texas city, and when I hear a low flying plane, I freak out. And I live 1,700 miles away from NYc.

They should've told people......

But they probably dident because people would get on the statue of liberty and ruin the picture......

The Bottom line, DON'T KEEP STUFF LIKE THAT SECRET!!! You'll %^&*#@@

Freak people out!!

ps. i photoshoped this picture to show that they could of used gimp, a free verson of photo shop to do this:

[warrior 169]

It is amazing how insensitive the people who run our countrys our, and who amazingly sad and idiot they are, really I wonder if people who work every day to make the country actually run (because really politicians are the most critical job there is) could do a better job.

I would have been scared stiff being there at the time, and I haven't ever been to America and live a lot of miles from NYC.

EDIT: I also love how the president didn't know about this, and it's his plane, let alone country(you know what I mean)

Jonathan

[sneakeypete 16]

As much as i don't have a fear of planes or anything like that, i can certainly see how prior notification is defiantly a must for such a sensitive region.

[Jezus53 18]

Originally posted by: Fraghawk444

ps. i photoshoped this picture to show that they could of used gimp, a free verson of photo shop to do this:

quote>

Dude! Wher'd you get that shot! It looks so legit!

They probably didn't photoshop it because no matter how good the person, you can always tell it's been shooped, err, photoshopped.

[Duke87 1,070]

Originally posted by: Jezus53

They probably didn't photoshop it because no matter how good the person, you can always tell it's been shooped, err, photoshopped. quote>

And even if it isn't, that doesn't mean you can't say it is.

[funkychicn 1]

Did you say that the president didn't know about this?!

It's one thing for the public not to know, but the president!?

[Barbarossa 51]

.

  Edited September 8, 2012 by Barbarossa  

[hamsterTK 93]

You know this happens any time the army or police need to do some kind of elaborate training exercise with helicopters. There will be repeat news stories telling the public there will be this exercise but some idiots will still call 911 asking "zomg is al qaeda is attacking!!!1"

the solution is to promote the training event as an air show that people could come out and watch. Then there will no panic.

[LarksTonguesInAspic 28]

Originally posted by: hamsterTK

You know this happens any time the army or police need to do some kind of elaborate training exercise with helicopters. There will be repeat news stories telling the public there will be this exercise but some idiots will still call 911 asking "zomg is al qaeda is attacking!!!1"

the solution is to promote the training event as an air show that people could come out and watch. Then there will no panic.quote>

It's the live-fire exercises in public places without notifying anyone, while using black-painted helicopters sans markings or insignia, that really freaks out some of us.

[warrior 169]

A while ago Air Force One was flown low over New York, and caused a panic, well the pictures of the blunder have been released. To be honest there's only one pciture I think is any good (picture 101), the rest either are boring or look photoshoped (picture 123 for example). In total 146 pictures were released. I don't know if the pictures are just poor quality because of keeping the filesize down on the internet or the camera was rubbish. But in my opinion it wasn't worth it and if I had been there on that day in New York would have been terrified.

A pdf document is here: http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/newyorkcityflyover/Air_Force_One_flyover_photos.pdf

And the Sky news article is here:

Jonathan

[hym 358]

I don't know if the pictures are just poor quality because of keeping the filesize down on the internet or the camera was rubbish.quote>

It was likely done for file size purposes (and possibly for security purposes too). I've seen some of those pictures in other places and they are significantly higher quality than the DoD release.

[MTA3479 0]

Originally posted by: hamsterTK

You know this happens any time the army or police need to do some kind of elaborate training exercise with helicopters. There will be repeat news stories telling the public there will be this exercise but some idiots will still call 911 asking "zomg is al qaeda is attacking!!!1"

the solution is to promote the training event as an air show that people could come out and watch. Then there will no panic.quote>

But, when they would've seen the plane flying so low, they would've thought the gov't was lying to them, that it was a gov't attack. Then, those people who insisted that 9/11 was a gov't planned attack would have some sort of proof, and then everything would be messed up.