I doubt Obama knew in advance. The USAF does plenty of photo shoots. The missions are training missions that need to be flown for pilot training regardless - the $300K+ figure is BS.
In the photo shoots I’ve dealt with - NOT AF1! - a General has to approve the plan. Assuming no objections from the FAA, it flies. No big deal.
And I’ll admit - it would never have occurred to me that people would freak out in NYC over an airplane. Goodness knows, there is no sign more than 5% of New Yorkers remember 9/11 anyways - not with how they vote, at least.
The people of New York (and America) voted for a Muslim-loving, terrorist forgiving, pansy weenie for President. For years, NYC has opposed the GWOT. Hell, they ought to get enough overflights to remind them DAILY of the threat...
It’s the Red Tails. Once you have the key, you crack the code.
The point is, every manufactured “scandal” that occurred during the Bush years “went all the way to the executive office” according the Democrats running the press. In the Clinton, and now Obama years, nothing goes past the gardener.
Your focus is on the “approval.”
The question is who “requested.”
No Air Force general can move Air Force One without the knowledge of the White House. There was a thread here the week this happened and a FReeper (sorry I forget his/her name) posted the regs.