UPDATE 10:22pm:
Here's a video of the flyover:
And "By day's end, an obscure City Hall deputy named Marc Mugnos, who makes $60,000 a year, was taking the fall for not telling Bloomberg that the low-flying planes were coming. He was reprimanded."
What the hell was Louis Caldera thinking!? Caldera, director of the White House Military Office, approved a far-too-close-for-comfort flyover photo-op over New York today. Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies throughout the region were notified last week. Mayor Bloomberg didn't know anything about it. But more importantly, the public didn't know anything about it!
So a low flying plane over the city caused thousands of workers to flee their high-rise office buildings.
When President Obama found out about it he was furious. Caldera issued this apology:
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.Way to go Caldera, you putz. Thanks for terrorizing thousands of New Yorkers.
Photo Courtesy: NY Times
4 comments:
And exactly how much did this little "photo op" flyover cost us taxpayers? Aren't we in debt up to our eyeballs already? Where is the logic?
I saw either the same plane or the same type of plane flying cicles around A.C. International in Galloway, NJ this morning. The very first thing I thought was "wow, that looks like Air Force One." As the plane circled around again as I was getting gas in my car, I got out my binocs for a closer look and thought "wow, it IS Air Force One, I wonder where the President is!" My point is, it was clearly a Presidential plane identifiable from its BOLD markings. I find it hard to believe that a Presidential plane would be taken over by anyone dangerous since that plane gets more security than any airport in the U.S. I think that a lot of people in NYC should pay better attention to the news so they would know what the President of the United States' personnal plane looks like.
While I agree that there was a little bit of over-reaction to this, this was still a very idiotic move. Most New Yorkers are still very traumatized from 9/11 and, just like someone with PTSD, aren't going to take the time to verify the source of their panic.
Louis Caldera, you sir, are a freakin' moron.
I work in lower Manhattan and there was some very real panic that spread over " planes where they didn't belong "
This was unforgivable stupidity and nothing else.
Post a Comment