Forget the Recession. Panic About This Plane!

Something light to brighten the down day. =)


Forget the Recession. Panic About This Plane!

Posted By:Cindy Perman
Topics:Swine Flu | Terrorism | YouTube | New York City | Recession | Economy (U.S.)
Companies:Google Inc | Boeing Co

As if the recession, bank stress tests and swine flu weren't enough to worry about on a Monday morning, an Air Force "photo op" gave New Yorkers another reason to panic.


A plane flying low over New York. That shouldn't be any cause for concern, right?
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Just after 10 am, a Boeing [BA 39.63 0.91 (+2.35%) ] 747 plane that is the backup for Air Force One flew low over the Hudson River in New York City. It was accompanied by two F-16 fighter jets and circled three times, instantly evoking flashbacks of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

A woman taped the event from her apartment window in Tribeca, just north of where the World Trade Center towers once stood, and uploaded the video to YouTube. [GOOG 385.28 -4.21 (-1.08%) ]

"Oh my god. That's not normal," she is heard saying on the video, as you see the plane flying close to the buildings. "It's a hijacking. I know it because it's going around," she says, in a panicky voice.

But it wasn't — the stunt was explained to be an Air Force "photo op," though workers at One Liberty Plaza were told it was an advertisement for a movie, the New York Times reported.

A spokesman for the FAA swears that this "photo op" was approved with all the necessary channels: The NYPD, The New Jersey PD, 911, 311 ...



Of course, the only people they forgot to run it by were New Yorkers, who remember Sept. 11 all too well.

CNBC reports Goldman Sachs headquarters were evacuated and traders felt windows rattle. Watch the video at left.

Hundreds of New Yorkers in lower Manhattan came rushing out of their office buildings, flooding the streets in panic that it was another terrorist attack.

Finally, someone showed up with a megaphone to tell them all it wasn't an attack and it was safe to go back to work.

The NYPD responded by saying they weren't allowed to alert the public. (Though they didn't say by whom.)

The good news is, we managed to forget about the recession and potential global swine-flu epidemic for about 30 minutes.

Tip of the hat to the Greatest City in the World for that.

The bad news is, we've all turned into Homer Simpson.

Ack! What was that?