I don't get it...

• Ignore the stupidity of doing this without notifying *everyone* that it was happening.
• Ignore the stupidity of even doing it at all.
• Ignore the questions about why we spent probably millions of dollars on a photo op.....

Why the hell didn't they just photoshop the fucking picture?

I can't believe they did this without notifying the public. Talk about a lot of unnecessary fear caused by beaurocratic blindness to the obvious.

I will admit that I'm pretty amused by the instant-panic of it all though.

it is a blunder a week with these guys. I thought we got rid of the Bush Admin...

Cute, krby. Ridiculous and blind to reality, but cute.

This will make awesome YTMNDs.

lol Givin.

But yeah, I can't believe no one thought it would be a bad idea to not let the public know that they were planning to fly a low on NYC. I don't want to imagine what it was for some of the people who felt they were relieving 911.

What exactly was the promo being filmed for? Anyone know?

Iron Eagle: New York?

A whole lot about this makes no sense to me.

The bureaucrat-in-charge got nailed last night as Olbermann's Worst Person. According to his coverage, the Feds notified Bloomberg's office, the Port Authority, and the NYPD... and then told them they weren't allowed to tell the public...

Which, really, makes no logical sense as far as I can see. Unless I'm missing something.

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Hope is the new black.

*blinks* how could anyone think this was a good idea? See this is what happens when you let stupid people breed

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"My doctor says that I have a malformed public-duty gland and a natural deficiency in moral fibre and that I am therefore excused from saving universes."

What a brilliant idea!

NYC got punk'd.

I'd assume to avoid potential attacks/problems on the plane being so low/vunerable, but IDK that's just a wild guess.

Unbelievably fucking STUPID.

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I see more humor value in the swine flu panic at the moment than I do in a bunch of NYC residents freaking out, Bovinity. I mean, there's a passenger airplane flying low, something that's not happened since 9/11, escorted by fighter aircraft. I feel pretty bad for them. It's actually quite a nice testament to the effect that TERRORism has had, and I'm sure there are a bunch of people in al Qaeda that just love seeing all those people running in terror, because they are responsible for it.

At this point I blame the re-run media and a fearmongering administration more than the terrorists for such pavlovian responses.

How? The video I saw showed a bunch of people in the city, watching the plane flying low with their naked eyes, not watching it on TV, you fucking dickface.

I love responses like that. Actually, *I* blame it on people that can think no more deeply about a subject than to post 1-2 line responses.

Rabble rabble rabble dickface rabble!

I hate to say it but I kinda agree with Bz here.

I'll wager 100x more people around the nation were scared by the, ["OMG OMG SCARED ENOUGH YET? NO? HERES ANOTHER VIDEO OF THE PLANES AND ANALYST TALKING ABOUT HOW FUCKING DOOMED YOU ARE! NOT SCARED YET? HERES JOE REPORTER AT YOUR LOCAL AIRPORT TELLING YOU ALL THE WAYS YOU COULD DIE! NOT SCARED YET? HERES A VIDEO OF YOUR GRANDMA EXPLODING IN REAL-TIME!"] than were scared by the actual act of 9/11.

But that's how our media works.

And we'll hear about it for the next two fucking weeks.

Fuck the media.

lol, jox is pretty grumpy today.

If the people had called the authorities, they would have been told that there was nothing to worry about, even if they weren't told why it was occuring. Instead, they stood outside like idiots staring at the sky.

People need to get over shit, it's been eight years for crying out loud. Past time for us to move on with our lives and to stop allowing one successful attack on home soil to dictate how we behave.

Was it ill-concieved? Yeah. But as proud New Yorkers are of their resilience and toughness, they need to stop acting like pussies at the first sight of a low-flying plane...especially one that already has fighter escorts. News flash...we don't escort jets to their target.

Right, I see a low flying plane like that and a fighter jet, I'm going to assume it's been fucking hijacked and that's why the fighter jet is with it. It would be goddamned retarded not to be freaked out by it and try to take action to potentially save yourself. It's certainly NOT a normal thing, and let's see when WAS the last time something like that was seen in NY...hmmm....

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News flash...we do send fighter jets after hijacked planes.

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I think he was implying that the jets would have shot it down before it reached New York if they thought it was a threat.

A low flying plane with a jet escort that is not on a mission of destruction is far, far more "normal" and common than that plane being used by terrorists to destroy American targets. But by all means, at no point am I telling you that you shouldn't be able to completely disregard common sense and jump to the most threatening conclusion.


I said escort, not intercept. My point still stands unless someone wants to make the argument that we would scramble fighters to intercept a plane that is considered a potential threat and be content following it into a dense urban area where the losses are guaranteed to be much higher rather than forcing it down or destroying it first.

Dude, seriously, it is not far far more normal. You never fucking see it. I would have been extremely freaked out had I been there, and I think it's absolutely understandable that other people were too.

I live in California. Yes, there's other shit that can shake your house, but when your house shakes, you're going to FIRST think 'EARTHQUAKE' and take appropriate action, and you'd be a fucking retard not to.

And when I travel, and the ground or building shakes when I am elsewhere, that's still my FIRST fucking thought, because I live in earthquake country. I'm not living in a prison of terror because of 'mother nature' or any such bullshit. It's simply the way we adapt to potential dangers.

Prior to 9/2001 sure people would see that shit and be like 'wtf is that', but no terror. If you can't understand why that would and should scare the everliving shit out of someone...then I can't help you.

Because it's BASIC common sense.

Shit, it's like telling someone who was violently mugged and assaulted to get the fuck over it when you grab them in a dark lot, and bitch they "can't take a joke" and act like it's THEIR problem and jeez they're ruled by fear so the attacker must have won because they freak the fuck out. Like anyone with two brain cells doesn't look at that and shake their head and say 'No, you're the goddamned douche bag'.

A figurative you, obviously there.

But seriously, while I don't think this shit needs to be a 24/7 news story or a 'see obama suuuuucks', I also think it's just goddamned ridiculous to act like it shouldn't bother anyone. I think it's just as false a position, and a highly insulting one to boot.

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And Obama is pissed!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/28/ ... index.html

As he should be. :PpPpPpp

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It has nothing to do with Obama other than some sort of abstract "the buck stops here". It's government bureaucracy and unilateral decision making taken too far. Underlings are to blame.

More oddity regarding this. I read that the photo op cost in excess of $328k. In addition, there's more details about the government knowing it would cause mass panic and not only still proceeding, but forbidding agencies from communicating / publicizing it.

http://wcbstv.com/topstories/air.force. ... 96457.html

obama lied people thought they were gonna die but really were just uninformed about a photo-op

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Honestly, this is the end of the thread anyway.

Who actually sits there in a room and says, "Hm, we need a picture of the plane over New York....lets ACTUALLY get the plane up and fly it over there!"

God forbid those same people direct a movie or anything, "Hm, we need Bob to get shot, lets really shoot him!"

I said escort, not intercept. My point still stands unless someone wants to make the argument that we would scramble fighters to intercept a plane that is considered a potential threat and be content following it into a dense urban area where the losses are guaranteed to be much higher rather than forcing it down or destroying it first.[/quote]
Except that it's entirely possible that would happen, and pretending that the presence of fighter jets should somehow comfort those witnessing the event... well, you're just ignoring reality at this point.

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It depends on where they intercept the plane. If they don't get to it until a point where shooting it down threatened lives what do you think they would do? Just say "oh well, can't shoot it down here so let's go back to base" or escort it while attempting to divert or otherwise defuse the situation?

This shows a complete lack of understanding as to how people react under duress. Would you should fire in a movie theater and then laugh as people rushed out because they didn't phone the fire department to find out if there was really cause for alarm? The entire incident occurred over the span of 30 seconds for most people.

As for the plane flight, I'm sure the public wasn't notified because we don't inform the public about military operations, especially with air force 1. That leaves the only logical thing to do as don't to this mission in the first place. That also seems to be the conclusion that the involved parties are agreeing to right now also, apologizing they ever authorized this.

I'm opposed to anything that would remind Americans of 9/11. Half of them became insufferable xenophobic dickheads on that day, and many never got over it.

It takes one to know one! Aho!

Obama claims he didnt know this was going down. Isn't AF1 his personal "get-the-fuck-out-of-here-and-still-run-the-country" plan? Since when can it be taken on a damn joyride? Let alone without the presidents knowledge?

random_agent001 says, 'Sir the nation's under attack"

Obama says, 'Alright, ready the Jet'

random_agent001 says, 'Ahhh....yeah.....well, um...we kinda thought it would be cool to get a few pics with AF1 being at low altitude over NYC, near ground zero where the terrorists hit..."

Obama says, 'obv'

There are two "Air Force One" Jets. Which ever one he is on at the time is AF one and the other one is the back up. This was the back up one. His was still Europe at the time.

"AF1" is the callsign of any plane the president is on. "Marine 1" is the name of any chopper, I believe. There are a few "candidate" aircraft for use in each regard. I don't know how many. This was a "spare" they had available.

I don't think that is correct...

Yeah, he was stateside prepping to give a talk to the FBI.

My bad, he had just gotten back. Time was I was really good at knowing where Bush / Air Force one was. The GF person used to work at the white house and fly on them.

Not quite. "Any plane" and "any chopper" are a bit off. The designation is for any aircraft belonging to that branch of the service. So if it's a Marine plane carrying the President, it's still Marine One. If it's an Army plane, Army One. If it's an Air Force helicopter, still Air Force One.

We've grown pretty used to calling a couple of jets "Air Force One," so it's easy to assume that the call sign is for any jet the President is on.

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If I was on the ground like those people were and saw a plane approaching at low altitude like that I would think I would just say "Boy, I'm glad I'm not up in a tall building". I guess I'm a heartless asshole. Running around like a chicken with your head cut off does absolutely nothing, it's not like you're going to outrun a jet that is determined to crash directly into you. Those dumbasses were in absolutely zero danger even if that was another 9/11 type attack.

Maybe they were all running to get their stinger missile launchers and shoot that fucker down. Or laser beam the pilots eyeballs.

Precisely. It's amazing how many people seem to not take into account human reaction to traumatic experiences.

I know I wouldn't be running like that, but here's the kicker - I also wasn't there on 9/11. An event like that doesn't merely leave people dead and the city moves on the next day(even though NYers showed remarkably resilience afterwards). They are constantly reminded of it with or without the media not only because of the huge hole in the center of their city and the several surrounding city blocks that were damaged and took months and years to fully rebuild - but because those thousands of lives taken so suddenly(without warning and really true understanding of what could motivate people to commit such an act, which only adds to the psycological trauma)... and some taken in the agonizing hour+ before and when the towers collapsed... were all interconnected with thousands upon thousands of other New Yorkers.

They are strong and resilient, but throw in a plane that's flying that low flying straight towards the city and it's not only an absolute slap in the face, it's also something that has almost never happened since 9/11 and leaves people understandably worried.

I know the thought of "what the fuck could that be?" would be going through my mind. More importantly, many people would probably tell themselves "The government cannot be THAT fucking stupid to fly a plane that low over THIS city... so at the very least something strange is going on here".

If you were in NY when 9/11 went down and you saw that, you would probably shit your pants if you saw a low flying 747. I got cold chills when I saw it the first time and I wasn't in NY on 9/11.

9/11 was real, not just a made-for-TV movie.

What? It was totally a Lifetime Network movie.

Ditto the whole "moon landing"

Although, I do have to kinda jump on this. Way to be a drama queen!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/08/ ... index.html

Fucking idiot resigns.

And on the 9/11 anniversary, the Coast Guard conducts a training exercise on the fucking Potomac. Gotta love the decision-making process on these things.

This would have been a complete non-issue if the media hadn't felt the need to report that shots were being fired after hearing someone say "bang" over the radio frequency they were monitoring.

I don't see what was wrong with the decision-making involved here (except the decision to report incorrect information). 9/11 hasn't become (nor should it) a day where everyone stops unnecessary flying or ceases military exercises. There is absolutely nothing wrong with continuing life as you always have after a tragic event.

Completely agree. It's been 8 years. Get over it.

Did you see that movie on Lifetime about that woman?

i agree that over reactions need to come back to planet earth, but saying "get over it" is pretty damn ruthless. Some people lost their entire worlds on 9/11, so I really hate seeing "get over it" tossed around like it was a simple celeb scandal.

I'm sure he didn't mean people who specifically lost something/someone.

But as a collective nation - 99.9% of which wasn't actually directly impacted by the event - we do need to get over it and stop feigning outrage/panic/whatever every time the date rolls around or someone mentions it.

Doing otherwise is exactly what the terrorists want. Of course they want us shivering in fear every time 9/11, WTC, Airplane, etc is mentioned. So why go out of our way to do so?

Absolutely correct. ACTUAL victims are another matter entirely.