Air Force One Buzzes Manhattan

New Yorkers Panic in the Streets

Someone at the White House thought it would be a neat idea to fly one of the modified 747s that serve as Air Force One when the President is on board, escorted by F 16s, low over Manhattan, Monday morning for a "photo op."

While the NYPD and some city officials were informed of the flight, no one thought to let the Mayor or the people of New York City know. It seems that no one at the White House was even conscious of the idea that a low flying passenger jet might make people in New York City a tad nervous.

And they were made more than just a little nervous. Office buildings were evacuated and the streets filled with people wondering if New York City was under attack again. Fortunately this was not the case. The planes flew around Liberty Island, then up the Hudson, passing close to Ground Zero, before circling back toward Staten Island.

When learning that the flight had been planned by the White House, New Yorkers from Mayor Bloomberg on down were understandably furious. The question arose: What were they thinking?

9/11 was one of those events that imprinted itself on the memories of almost everyone who lived through it. This fact is doubly true for people who were in New York on that day. Memories of seeing people leap to their deaths from the burning towers, then seeing the towers themselves collapse, and then running through the streets as the debris and dust of the ruined buildings billowed through the streets will be carried to the grave by many people.

Even those who watched the attacks on TV, recalling the eye bulging, mouth opened feel of horror and then rage when the second plane hit the World Trade Center, will never again feel quite as secure, quite as safe as they did before 9/11. It was the Day of Infamy for our generation.

But there appears to be a few people, working in the Obama White House, for whom 9/11 is a dim memory, a day that doesn't quite affect them as it does other people. How else to explain sending a low flying jet on a "photo op" over Manhattan without a thought about what effect it might have. One might as well fire off a rifle at Dealy Plaza in Dallas (or Columbine High School) or send a flight of Japanese Zeroes over Hawaii.