| Air Force One is a call sign of any US Air Force aircraft which carries the US president on-board. Unofficially this term is often used independent of the location of the president with respect to air-crafts of the presidential fleet, which since 1990 to date consists of two specially equipped planes the Boeing-747-200B (Air Force designation VC-25A) -and aircraft 28000 and 29000.
If the destination airport cannot accommodate the landing of big plane such as the VC-25A, then the Boeing C-32 is used to perform the role of Air Force One. US Air Force aircraft, used for transporting the Vice-President of the United States have the call sign “Air Force Two”.
The White House had to render apologies to the residents of New York. Residents of New York were panicked due to the appearance of Air Force One in the skies over the city. Barack Obama was not on-board when Air Force One flew over New York City. The crew made some risky turns in the immediate proximity to skyscrapers.
Not so long ago, almost each American and also a few good residents of the earth dreamt of buying an apartment in Manhattan. Now, people sympathize with the residents of New York and the prices of apartments in the business center of the USA are dropping day by day. The global financial crisis is not the only one to be blamed for this. Simply, living in Manhattan has become too nervous and frankly speaking, dangerous.
September 11, 2001, when two air liners hijacked by terrorists rammed into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre, didn't heap New York's appeal. New incidents with planes constantly disturb the residents of New York in forgetting the September 11 nightmare. The recent occurrence was in January, 2009. An air bus А-320 made an emergency landing in the Hudson just several meters away from the Manhattan seafront. None of the 150 passengers on-board the Airbus A-320 were injured. The gradually healing wound of New Yorkers once again opened-up.
And panic has come yesterday once again to haunt the residents of New York. The incomparable rumble appeared and everybody saw a huge airliner accompanied with two fighter aircraft flying over the Hudson towards Manhattan. Valid reason existed to be frightened. After all, first of all, it is prohibited for the airliners of all airlines to fly so close to the skyscrapers. And secondly, everybody is aware of the fact, that fighter aircraft accompany civil aircraft only in case of an emergency. Instantly, conclusions took shape in the minds of New Yorkers. Many thought that the incident of September 11 might be repeated and had them scattering into all directions. In no time, entire shops were empty. Employees of offices were evacuated from many multistory buildings. And not only in Manhattan but also on other coast of the Hudson, Jersey City.
Actually, why did the Air Force One soar over New York? The White House or Pentagon is not trying to make any secret of this. However, different interpretations were made in the expressed explanations. Representatives of the US Air Force have published a special statement, in which it is stated that flying over the New York City was made with an aim to take some photographs of some areas of the city. Thus, the representative of the US Air Force Major Richard Johnson called the flying as studies done by the Pentagon. And the Federal Aviation Administration stated that the photography of Air Force One was done against the background of the Statue of Liberty.
The official explanations and even apologies of the White house however, have not calmed the residents of Manhattan. And the Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg expressed the general opinion by calling the flying of Air Force One over the Hudson as a “ridiculous and poor decision”. He was also angry that Washington did not alert the authorities of New York City that such an operation was planned. Even though the White House swears that Bloomberg was informed well in advance about the forthcoming flight, very few people believed it. After all, it is known that the secret service should not disclose the flying plans of Air Force One under any circumstances. |
Air Force One made a lot of buzz this week. The director of the White House military office, Louis Caldera, took the blame for sending Air Force One to fly alarmingly low over the Statue of Liberty, Manhattan, and New Jersey - just for some fancy photo-shoots, costing taxpayers over $300,000. The money was not be biggest issue in this incident - unannounced and flying dangerously low Air Force One caused massive terror scare in Manhattan and New Jersey causing thousands of offices evacuated. Obama said he found out about the incident only after it happened, admitted it was a mistake and launched an investigation on who and how authorized this photoshoot. "It will never happen again", said Obama. "Nice photos though".
