Air Force One Flyover Far From Fly

I'm sure you have heard by now that thousands of New Yorkers were sent into a panic yesterday (4/27/09) when Air Force One buzzed New York's Liberty Island for a photo op of the plane with the Statue of Liberty serving as the backdrop. If not check it out here...
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/28/low.flying.plane/index.html

Now, I'm no FAA aviation expert, or post-traumatic psychologist, or professional White House aide, nor did I sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but apparently I am still smarter than the schmuck who coordinated this effort for the FAA, the Air Force, and the White House.

I don't know, call me crazy, but if I am planning on flying a 747 1500 ft. over New York City I might wanna pick up the phone and give the mayor a call, perhaps even the president. At the very least I would put out a PRESS RELEASE so that the local media could put the word in the streets as to not cause a panic. But, gosh, who would have thought New Yorkers would panic with a big plane flying around buildings in New York FRICKIN City... you dumbasses.

But I digress. That is not really what upsets me most about this incident, what upsets me is the fact that someone thinks it's ok to fuel up a 747 and fly it around national treasures (like the Statue of Liberty) for the purpose of taking a press photo. A press photo. Let me say that one more time... a press photo.

You mean to tell me when our country is in one of the worse economic downturns in history someone thinks it's ok to spend 328,000 of my tax dollars flying a plane all over the country so that they can hand out pictures of it to the press. Again, not an expert, but why don't we just take a picture of the thing sitting on the ground. What? Not patriotic enough for you, ok, park it in front of a hanger, drop a big ol' flag behind that sucker, and snap a picture. There you go. Easy. Cheap. Done. And, no one thought it was going to crash into their office.