Wednesday, April 29, 2009

FAA Aware of "possibility of public concern" in buzzing NYC with a 747

Amateur-Hour, ClownShoes, or my favorite: "Felony Stupidity" (jump ahead to 2:48)

- Take your pick.


FAA Memo: Feds Knew NYC Flyover Would Cause Panic

Now, of course - the official statements are that Obama is "furious" and "investigating", etc., etc., blah, blah.

At the end of the day, the White House 'Military Office' took Air Force one out for a spin @ almost building-top-level, circling and buzzing NYC with what any reasonable person would have identified as a pair of "chase" F-16s closely tailing the bigger plane.

Who could possibly have predicted that people would be upset by such a thing?

Ah,... well... it turns out the answer to that question is "Pretty Much Everyone".


Federal officials knew that sending two fighter jets and a 747 from the presidential fleet to buzz ground zero and Lady Liberty might set off nightmarish fears of a 9/11 replay, but they still ordered the photo-op kept secret from the public.

In a memo obtained by CBS 2 HD, the Federal Aviation Administration's James Johnston said the agency was aware of "the possibility of public concern regarding DOD aircraft flying at low altitudes" in an around New York City.

But they demanded total secrecy from the NYPD, the Secret Service, the FBI and even the mayor's office and threatened federal sanctions if the secret got out.

Okay, so they knew that the people of New York haven't completely forgotten 9-11 (the election of The One notwithstanding) and that, as such, buzzing lower Manhattan with a commercial airliner would likely have people evacuating buildings in anticipation of a potentially horrific, fiery death.

At least we can take solace in the knowledge that this office of the White House must have had a Very Good Reason for doing this, right?

And the 'Total Secrecy' over the operation that prevented anyone from saying "Nothing to Be Alarmed About, Folks" to the citizens of New York - that was for Security reasons - to keep the POTUS safe, right?

Ummm....yeah - about that...

The flyover -- apparently ordered by the White House Office of Military Affairs so it would have souvenir photos of Air Force One with the Statue of Liberty in the background"

Souvenir. Photos.


Uh, Okay - my two-cents here:


If this is the alternative, please go back to cheap-DVD-sets and iPods.



BTW,

- An AirForceOne joy-ride,
- White House threats of 'Federal Sanctions' against the NYPD,and the Mayor's Office
- Two F-16 fighter jets,
- A combined cost of about $328,000 for the 2-hour-tour

And O's response is "I didn't know"?

If this had been GW, do you think the whole of the MSM would have led-in with "Stupid", "Incompetent" or "Evil" first?


Oh, and here's a good bit too:

"The NYPD was so upset about the demand for secrecy that Police Commissioner Ray Kelly vowed never to follow such a directive again and he accused the feds of inciting fears of a 9/11 replay.

Uh-Oh, Mr. Kelly...

- Anger @ the White House?
- A vow not to bend to Federal control?
- Negative-conjecture and accusations against government motive?


Looks like the NYC Police Commissioner just made The List.

Welcome to the ranks of Right Wing Extremism, Ray - glad to have you.


- MuscleDaddy

9 comments:

  1. Oh, but it wasn't his fault because he didn't know anything about that. He was busy playing with Bo at the time...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I wonder how long until the MSM labels Mr. Kelly as racist. After all, ANY criticism of Teh One is automatic racism, don'tcha know.

    Some of the comments on the WAPO's coverage of this are a riot. One left-wing loon said that Bush scared the crap out of the New Yorkers by sending up MILITARY planes. They are scared of a MILITARY plane?????

    I see another attack on this country as not a matter of if...but when...I sure hope I'm wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I just have a hard time believing that PresBO didn't at least know about this. It's HIS plane, for Heaven's sake! Not just anybody can grab Air Force One and go joy-riding. So someone pretty high up had to give an okay (Emanuel? Axelrod? Michelle?), and even then, no way they WOULDN'T have mentioned it to him.

    Either it was his idea, or at the very least he know about it. And of course, oblivious buffoon that he is, it never occurred to HIM that it could cause a panic. Wiser heads realized it, but gave the go-ahead anyway.

    Stupid, stupid, stupid.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I see another attack on this country as not a matter of if...but when...I sure hope I'm wrong.Previously, I didn't think so, because I felt the terrorists would leave us alone while the Democrat-controlled administration tore down our security. Now, I'm not so sure. The way BO is telegraphing his contempt for ordinary Americans, as well as our best allies, is making me afraid they will see the opportunity for pushing concessions from him, the way they did Spain. I'm just worried about HOW they will do something.

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  5. One thing that puzzles me...aren't the F-16's single-seater jets? If there were to be photos taken, just WHO was taking the pics? I smell a rat in Washington over this one. I think BO let someone take the plane for a joyride.

    ReplyDelete
  6. F-16's come in single and two seat varieties. Usually the two seat version is used for training purposes

    I notice though they keep calling it Air Force One, which it's only called when the President is on board, which makes me wonder what the passenger list looks like.

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  7. Instinct,
    That's just the usual MSM cluelessness, thinking "Air Force One" is the name of the plane, and not it's call sign.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Instinct,

    Thanks for the "flying" lesson. 8-) Obviously, I don't know anything about F-16s.

    ReplyDelete
  9. "I sure hope I'm wrong."

    Grief, it's creepy! I don't know how many times that exact phrase has escaped my lips since November!

    ReplyDelete

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