Ill-judged photo stunt reawakens 9/11 memories
The jet, which serves as Air Force One when the president is on board, spent half an hour circling the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan’s financial district on Monday, leading to concerned office workers evacuating buildings.
New York mayor Michael Bloomberg called the stunt “insensitive”, while President Barack Obama was said to be “furious”.
The idea behind the photo opportunity was to capture the Boeing 747 with a historic landmark in the background, in this case the Statue of Liberty.
It was carried out by the defence department, but officials have been criticised for not giving enough notice to relevant authorities in New York.
The director of the White House military office, Louis Caldera, yesterday apologised for the ill-judged photo opportunity.
He said: “Last week, I approved a mission over New York. I take responsibility for that decision.
Caldera continued: “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 apologise and take responsibility for any distress that flight caused.”
The Federal Aviation Administration had informed the New York Police Department of the plans to fly the jet at about 1,500ft (460m) above lower Manhattan. But it said that the information should not be released to the public or the media.
Workers began to leave buildings at the time of the flight, concerned of a repeat of the September 11 attacks which destroyed the World Trade Center in 2001.
One of those kept out of the loop was Bloomberg, who has since been heavily critical of the stunt.
“Why the defence department wanted to do a photo op right around the site of the World Trade Center catastrophe defies the imagination,” he said.
“The good news is it was nothing more than an inconsiderate, badly conceived and insensitive photo op with the taxpayers’ money,” said Mr Bloomberg.
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