[Video below.] An authorized photo opportunity involving President Barack Obama’s backup plane flying over the Statue of Liberty created a stir lower Manhattan today, evoking memories of the September 11 attacks.Obama was not on board.
The city notified businesses but not the general public, which is sensitive to such incidents in lower Manhattan, site of the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.
The mid-morning flyover made traders jittery at the New York Mercantile Exchange. A NYMEX spokeswoman said the bourse was not evacuated.
“There’s three aircraft that are an approved military photo op above New York City,” said Jim Peters, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Authority.
“It’s the back-up aircraft for Air Force One,” he said. The Department of Transport “coordinated the flight with FAA and we made the notifications to the city so they were aware that the flight would take place between 10 and 10:30 this morning.”
After the incident, New York City released an advisory that the flyover was “part of an approved federal activity.”
Click below for a video:
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{Reuters/NYN/Matzav.com Newscenter}
