Yeah... Who'da Thought?

OK... lets get this straight... a lowly Cessna 170 flies, accidently, into Washington Airspace (as occurred last week) and it becomes a national scandal (again) and yet when the White House/DoD flies a 747, low-level and followed by F16s pursuing it through the skies of New York, they're surprised when people start heading for shelter?

Oh man -- what a zoo. Let the excuses begin....

What was allegedly said to be a "classified" training/photography project, authorized by the White House and DoD, wound up being the latest in a series of Washington goofs by the current administration (which, of course, only adds to the goofs by those that preceded them), giving rise to the question of the day, namely... what were they thinking?

Late word indicates that the 'classified' mission was nothing of the sort... but instead an opportunity to replace an older, but well-received, PR shot of Air Force One flying over the Grand Canyon (that is now several years old) with one showing it flying over New York City.

So... in the skies over new York, plain as day, an Air Force transport aircraft, a 747 assigned as a backup to Air Force One, flew at fairly low altitudes over the city... with at least one (and occasionally two) F-16s shown in close pursuit. Not exactly an average day for the Big Apple.

Although the Feds did reportedly notify the NYPD that there were aerial hijinks on the way, no one thought to mention that to the Mayor... or the citizenry... some of which headed to the nearest shelter, still shaken by the specter of large aircraft ramming the World Trade Center less than 8 years before.

Louis Caldera, director of the White House Military Office, claims that, "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."

NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne admitted that they had been alerted about the exercise, but had also been encumbered, "with directives to local authorities not to disclose information about it."

The Mayor of New York was none too pleased, reportedly using words like "ridiculous" and "poor judgment"...

The Mayor also stated that, "First thing is, I'm annoyed -- furious is a better word -- that I wasn't told... Why the Defense Department wanted to do a photo op right around the site of the World Trade Center defies the imagination."

Bloomberg added that, "Had we known, I would have asked them not to."

Of course, a goof involving anything aeronautical could not pass without a comment by  a certain Democratic Senator from New York, "It is absolutely outrageous and appalling to think that the FAA would plan such a photo shoot and not warn the public, knowing full well New Yorkers still have the vivid memory of 9/11 sketched in their minds." Still blaming the FAA for what has been reported to be a White House/DoD effort, Schumer also claimed that the flight "really borders on being either cruel or very very stupid."

FMI: www.whitehouse.gov, www.faa.gov