World

New York Air Force One Fly-Past 'Felony Stupidity'

by Rachel Nixon | April 28, 2009 at 08:43 am

689 views | 18 Recommendations | 6 comments

The sight of an Air Force One plane flying over the New York skyline on Monday in a photo-op authorised by the White House has critics calling for answers.

Just before the working day began on Monday an airliner and a fighter jet were seen flying over Manhattan in scenes that sparked fears among New Yorkers of a replay of the 9/11 terror attacks.

Fran Townsend, a former Homeland Security adviser who worked in the Bush administration has questioned whether Louis Caldera, the man who approved the photo-op, should stay in office.

"I'd call this felony stupidity. This is probably not the right job for Mr. Caldera to be in if he didn't understand the likely reaction of New Yorkers, of the mayor," Townsend said Tuesday on CNN's "American Morning."

Mr Caldera, director of the White House Military Office, has already apologised for the incident which caused panicked workers and residents to evacuate buildings.

He said:

"Last week, I approved a mission over New York. I take responsibility for that decision," Caldera said. "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."

President Obama acknowledged on Tuesday that the flyby had been a mistake and would not happen again.

The Federal Aviation Administration had notified the New York Police Department about the flyover but the information was classified and not allowed to be released to the media or public.

There were other calls for Louis Caldera's resignation:

Caldera "should resign, to be quite frank," GOP consultant and former Bush administration official Bradley Blakeman told FOX News.

"This is more than a lapse of judgment. This is complete stupidity in a time of economic crisis, wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars for publicity photos for Air Force One when you could have put that on your PC at home and done the same thing without that cost and disruption," Blakeman said.

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Roberto Alvarez-Galloso

at 09:08 on April 28th, 2009

Great article. I also think the person who made the decision for the "stunt" should resign.

Linda23 (not verified)

at 18:31 on April 28th, 2009

Why blame the man who approved it? Who thought of this stunt and for what purpose besides a photo-op? What would the President obtain from this type of picture? What could have been his mission in doing this? While I listen to the news and hear of all the layoffs in the US and then to hear how much this little flight cost tax payers I was very sickened to be part of a democratic team. It is hard to believe that our policy makers and politicians really care about the real US citizens. And we criticize the CEO's for getting their pensions! How do we ask for this money back Mr. President?

batvette

at 02:54 on April 29th, 2009

http://my.nowpublic.com/world/statement-new-yorker-about-air-force-one-flyover

It is kind of funny most of the "off with their heads" critics in the article happen to be from the opposition party....

And Linda, the cost? I worked on fighter planes in the Navy,the biggest cost for any modern military aircraft (or 747) is letting it sit on the ground without flying a good hour or so every 3 days to lubricate all the seals in the hydraulic system- in addition to the fact the pilot also needs to get flight hours in on a nearly daily basis, the "cost of that flight" is the furthest thing from anyone's mind in the aviation community. If you have a plane, you have to fly it or get rid of it.

But really, not only are a lot of people playing politics,I'd like to say- What the hell happened to New Yorkers, those people who consider it an affront to civility if you bump into them and don't tell them "**** you!"? I think Bin Laden is leaning back on a rock in his cave saying "mission accomplished!".

Sure 9/11 was a big tragedy, but in the spirit of the Todd Beamers of that day, (the "let's roll" hero of the flight that was prevented from continuing into Washington DC) don't you think bravery and pride and defiance should prevail over fear, meekness and apprehension?

David JT (not verified)

at 10:11 on April 29th, 2009

batvette: What kind of unreasonable statements you make above. You know full well that if a Republican President would have done that, you would be calling for him to step down not just the person that is being labeled as the fall guy.

I am not saying that the President should step down but I am surprise as to the lack of coverage that the media has given to this incident. This Obama-nation just gets worst every day.

batvette

at 15:05 on April 30th, 2009

David, you might want to know I'm registered Republican (but consider myself independent) and voted for Bush in 2004. You rush to assume my comment was motivated by partisanship but my comment was criticizing what I felt to be partisan motivated over reaction to this issue.

I will say that the Democrats were brutal to the Bush administration, and should expect a lot of flak over the next or 8 years. Perhaps the Republicans for their part will make good use of this and go after real issues, unlike the Dems who chose to go overboard on non-issues or try and make an issue for an election platform as they did with Iraq and 2004.

Had they not spent so much time criticizing legitimate and necessary policy actions like OIF they might have seen that at home we were losing our civil liberties at an alarming rate, and our rights to privacy were being thrown in the toilet.

Ultimately it will be about what the media wants to cover. Monicagate was covered because Chinagate was too boring, which is a shame, because Chinagate is a very significant part of our economic crisis and I would like to vomit when I see interviews with Clinton seeking his advice on the economy. They should ask "so, Bill, how do we rebuild the economy after you changed all those policies that allowed the Chinese to steal every patent and copyright the US filed over the last 100 years?"

On a personal level, just as liberals set out to ensure their prediction that the Bush administration would be the worst ever would come true, the Obama-nation is only as bad as you wish it to be. You know they did that even if they don't admit it, like telling the Iraqis the war was based on lies, such criticism is active participation in an ongoing event and surely got more troops killed as the Iraqis could not get to Bush so attacked his surrogates.

I had hoped the Republicans might be just a degree or so better than that.

Roger That

at 04:36 on May 1st, 2009

Criticism of Caldera is understandable, but I can't comprehend those that are critical of Obama himself. The guy runs the US federal government. He's got a lot on his mind, like an economy that is in the tank and extracting the US from a war without fouling things up even more. Does anyone really expect him to be paying personal attention to matters as tangential as the Air Force One flight schedule?