Overnight Open Thread – More on the “Air Force One” Photo-Op - (genghis)

(Apologies if anyone covered this already...wasn't sure if it somehow got lost in the middle of all the health care debate news))

You may recall the horribly bungled “Air Force One” photo-op about three months ago that scared the living shit out of a large portion of New York City (yes, yes…I know it’s not Air Force One unless the President is actually in it. Shut up.) A few days ago the Air Force released the remaining photos from the shoot along with numerous documents detailing events leading up to it along with the fallout.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- And now, the rejects.

Three months after the White House released a single photograph taken during a photo op of "Air Force One" flying over New York -- a flight that caused panic on the streets below -- the U.S. Air Force on Friday released the remaining 145 photos taken during the flight.

The photographs show the Boeing VC-25 -- a military version of a 747 -- making three passes by the Statue of Liberty, at one point accompanied by an F-16 fighter jet and at another point making a steep bank not usually seen with passenger aircraft. That latter move may have contributed to the chaos below.

""We...need to construct some sort of timeline on when folks became aware of it if that is possible," one Air Force official wrote, responding to the public interest.

"I agree we... need to accomplish damage control, but we aren't the POC [point of contact]," the response reads. "Nor do I want to become a belly button for NORAD to push on this one."

Wrote one top Pentagon spokeswoman: "Nothing like having everyone point the finger at someone else so we ALL look like a big bunch of buffoons... can you say Moe, Larry & Curly!??!?!"

This sentence seems a little puzzling:

"The Pentagon estimated the cost of the flight at $328,835, which includes the Boeing aircraft and the two fighter jets that accompanied it. But, they said, "the hours would have been flown regardless, and the expenses would have been accrued on a different mission."

However, I think at the time the Pentagon (a talking, 5-sided building in Washington D.C.) said something about the photo-op being doubled-up as a training mission. However, I don't see that mentioned in the article.

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posted by xgenghisx at 09:57 PM

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