Baraka_Guru

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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Charlatan

Apparently it was a photo shoot for the president's plane.

It was cleared through all the proper authorities but those authorities decided not to tell anyone it was going to happen. Idiots.

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"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
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QuasiMondo

Dear NYC:

Calm down and quit turning mountains out of molehills. You're ruining the tough guy image you've cultivated over the decades.

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Cameron originally envisioned the Terminator as a small, unremarkable man, giving it the ability to blend in more easily. As a result, his first choice for the part was Lance Henriksen. O. J. Simpson was on the shortlist but Cameron did not think that such a nice guy could be a ruthless killer.

-From the Collector's Edition DVD of The Terminator

shakran

yeah, they should have told someone. On the other hand, Air Force One is the best-guarded 747 on the planet. Do people REALLY think the terrorists are gonna use THAT plane for their nefarious activities?

Sheesh.

Charlatan

Technically speaking it isn't Air Force One unless the President is on board... and he wasn't. But point taken.

__________________
"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke

Xerxys

Riiiiiight, cause 9/11 never happenned. Any concern is just overreacting.

ratbastid

I doubt I'd recognize AF1 at that distance. I'd see an airliner doing a low pass near Manhattan and likely lose my shit. That it's being escorted by fighters helps somewhat--I'm sure if it was a hijack and headed toward the City, they'd have shot it down before it came close. But still... It'd be unsettling.

shakran

Yeah, I know, it's a VC-25A tail number 28000 or 29000 depending on which plane they were flying for this. But I didn't want to be obscure

JumpinJesus

Freaking-out is how we roll post 9/11. Didn't you get the memo? I can run around with my penis hanging out of my jeans and it's all good as long as I invoke 9/11. Don't you dare question me! The world is different now!

The best part? At the controls? AN INFECTED SWINE!! AAAaaahhhh!!!!!

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"I can normally tell how intelligent a man is by how stupid he thinks I am" - Cormac McCarthy, All The Pretty Horses

QuasiMondo

9/11 happened nearly eight years ago. Not yesterday, not last month, not last year. At some point you're going to have to overcome your fear of airplanes that fly overhead. This tragedy isn't the only tragedy that's happened in the US, or even in NYC.

And yes, I had a front row seat to what happened, and yes, I did lose a good friend to it, btw (as if I need to explain this to legitimize my reaction).

---------- Post added at 10:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:22 PM ----------

Nobody was running around like Chicken Little when Sully made his Hudson River Miracle.

__________________
Cameron originally envisioned the Terminator as a small, unremarkable man, giving it the ability to blend in more easily. As a result, his first choice for the part was Lance Henriksen. O. J. Simpson was on the shortlist but Cameron did not think that such a nice guy could be a ruthless killer.

-From the Collector's Edition DVD of The Terminator

ratbastid

That happened super-fast. I've seen realtime recreations of it that last less than three minutes. Mostly people didn't know about it until it was over and there was a plane in the drink. My impression of this afternoon's event is that it lasted for quite a lot longer.

I'm just saying--it's easy to be all "Oh, you dumbasses need to not freak out". It's entirely another to be standing there and seeing a plane whizzing by.

For the record, I'm more than a thousand miles away from Manhattan, more's the pity.

ObieX

It may not be just the low-flying plane but the fact that there was also a fighter jet following the plane that was the biggest part of what freaked people out. If i saw that i would be concerned too.

I don't see why they wouldn't announce this little stunt. It's not like the president was on board the aircraft. If he was that would have made some sense on the secrecy-o-meter.

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We Must Dissent.

settie

I don't live anywhere important...really, just a silly little town with nothing important. the city goes wild when a concert is held with popular people. hah.

Even so, even though I've never had to worry or concern myself with the possibility of a terrorist threat, I've seen airplanes fly low many times. I might not go to hysterics and panic, but it certainly is unnerving to see a big flying machine pass over your house so close.

So lets not ASSume that everyone that freaked thought they were under attack again, or at least, not after rational thought finally seeped its way into their brains.

Try to imagine 9/11 didn't happen, if this low flying plane still happened, wouldn't you wonder what the fuck was going on? And not just pass it off as nothing?

I know I'd be damn curious, and perhaps even cautious. But I'm not a fan of planes. Or high things in general. haha. :P

ASU2003

Why would someone think that taking a photo of a low-flying plane in NYC with a fighter jet following it would be a good idea? How would they ever use this photo? And why NYC, wouldn't Washington DC or Chicago make more sense? They should have taken this photo at 30,000 feet, if they weren't able to save some money and use photoshop that is. Or take a photo during a real or training run.

This plane made a bunch of passes around here last year. I think it was that they were practicing taking off and landing or some other emergency maneuvers, but I never thought it would crash into my building.

Charlatan

They were updating shots of the plane against the backdrop of the Statue of Liberty. The photographer was in the jet escort.

They are, apparently, updating a number of the publicity shots with the plane flying by a number of prominent US landmarks.


I see no issue with this whole thing other than that it would have been a good idea to send out a release to the public that this was going to happen. Knowing what was going on would have been an entirely different scenario. Instead of running in fear, people would have lined up along the shore to get a glimpse of the plane in action.

Public relations 101.

__________________
"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke

Psycho Dad

I can see why some people could be unnerved by this pre or post 9/11.

I just wonder what it costs to put those planes in the air for publicity shots. What publicity does the office of President of the United States need? Where will these photos be used and for what? I'd be OK with buying a copy of Photoshop, but this seems like a waste.

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The_Jazz

Devil's Advocate: let's say they did let people know and someone took a shot at the plane with something big enough to do some real damage.

I understand the reason for the secrecy but an annoucement that morning in the local news probably would have been the prudent thing. Then again, that would require people to pay attention to the local news, which we all knows sucks donkey balls thanks to Tony Danza.

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Poppinjay

They've done it around DC too. I followed the plane on I 95 as it made passes, then saw it larger than life in my review mirror not more than 50 feet above the highway. That was quite gasp inducing.

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I think the Apocalypse is happening all around us. We go on eating desserts and watching TV. I know I do. I wish we were more capable of sustained passion and sustained resistance. We should be screaming and what we do is gossip. -Lydia Millet

Baraka_Guru

Okay, I'm up here in Toronto. I'd be a bit shocked seeing that. I sometimes get a bit of an "uh...woah..." when I see those big birds floating into Pearson International. They fly pretty low to the highway. If I saw that same thing floating around just above the skyline, I'd be a bit unnerved to say the least. And this in Toronto, not New York.

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

bodykits

great video man.. but that's really freaky..

dlish

from a distance, any plane followed by a jetfighter would raise questionsinmy mind.

they could have been prudent and saved us the hassle and used photoshop...but the news has to report on something. Obamas' been in office 100 days, a story's gotta be made.

next time there is a low flying plane, people may actually dismiss it as a publicity flight.

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Cynthetiq

why go through the expense?

Didn't Congress just grill the auto CEOs about frivolous use of personal planes????

would not the same logic apply?

I live in Lower Manhattan and didn't hear it or the jet, I guess that's east versus west... but still. I was quite shocked. I can't tell you how many times I see planes over the city and I still cringe as I see them approach the line/edge of the building. I don't think I'll every "get over" the trauma 100%.

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Cynthetiq

Maybe they don't need to fly that often if well that's the cost and it seems that it would be accrued and hours flown regardless. Maybe they should have a bigger degree of regard of how to expend the flight hours and money.


why did they quotation furious? President Obama was "furious".... strange.

and the post makes a photoshop challenge to the readers.... jeez this gets weirder and weirder.

Create-your-own NYC Air Force One flyover photo ... we did

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I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

Willravel

Schadenfreude. I'll admit it, when I heard that some idiot flew his plane too low over NYC and scared the shit out of people, I laughed. It probably makes me a bad person, but w/e.