FAA says low-flying plane over Staten Island is 'pre-planned' flight to take photos

http://www.silive.com/news/index ^

[NautiNurse]

Unless they are taking photos of the plane.

Photoshop and/or a good movie crew would be plenty cheaper.

[Velveeta]

[VA40]

Photo taken from Jersey City. Yep, I would have panicked!

[Calpernia]

Everybody and their brother is out buzzing real low with their personal aircraft now.

[mplsconservative]

Holy cr*p! I so hope this is 0’s jump the shark moment. Please dear God!

[PapaBear3625]

Most of the reports that I’ve been reading state the police didn’t know.

Perhaps the Chief of Police was notified, but the street-level cops were not.

[anniegetyourgun]

You don’t seem to understand...he’s “the one” and he can do no wrong.

[Grampa Dave]

This is one hell of a big carbon footprint for a photo op. Can we believe anything that comes out of this administration.

[milford421]

Thank you Velveeta. Something is really wrong here and no, I don’t buy the photo op explanation at all. Conflicting reports of what NYPD knew and didn’t know and when. Plane was way too close to the Goldman Sachs Building.

Somethings up.

[Skeptical constituent]

Please inform those of us who don’t know what “Looking Glass” is.

[Moose4]

Nope. That’s a VC-25, one of the two planes that usually serve as Air Force One. Guess somebody in the Administration told the Air Force to take it out and get some showoff pictures over New York.

}:-)4

[penelopesire]

Don’t worry..it is! The truth always rises to the surface and it will here as well.

[Velveeta]

Local authorities were told not to disclose information about this morning’s flyover, the New York City Police Department said in a statement.

“The flight of a VC-25 aircraft (the military version of the 747) and F-16 fighters this morning was authorized by the FAA for the vicinity of the Statue of Liberty with directives to local authorities not to disclose information about it but to direct any inquiries to the FAA Air Traffic Security Coordinator,” police said.

Other officials noted that they were led to believe the flight would be limited to the area near the Statue of Liberty, however the flight pattern was above a much larger portion of New York and at an extremely low altitude.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=7439287&page=1

[Moose4]

“Looking Glass” was another term for the E-4B Airborne Command Post aircraft; they’re also modified 747-200s, similar to the VC-25s used as Air Force One, but they’re strictly military birds crammed full of top-drawer electronics and command/control systems. They were designed to be used as airborne command posts in the event of a nuclear strike on Washington.

They have a similar (but not exactly the same) paint job to the VC-25s with “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” titles instead of normal USAF markings. Those pictures, though, are of a VC-25.

}:-)4

[PapaBear3625]

Looking Glass is the code name for an airborne command center currently operated by the U.S. Navy. It provides command and control of U.S. nuclear forces in the event that ground-based command centers are destroyed or otherwise rendered inoperable

[MeanWestTexan]

Yes, but it’s probably a big stunt for Obama.

The Emporer couldn’t use photo shop, now could he?

[Velveeta]

[happinesswithoutpeace]

So they didn’t want it street knowledge because they were afraid that New Yorker’s would be out there taking potshots with their MANPADS??. 0_o

[Grampa Dave]

This was a BFD to those people being evacuated. It is amazing how some Freepers continue to defend their beloved 0b0z0 by belittling the rest of us when bs like this happens:

[Velveeta]

More video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TPjJ4PXXMc&feature=player_embedded