How not to do a photo op

The Air Force likely will have some explaining to do following this particularly poorly thought-out photo op, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Seems the Air Force thought it was a good idea to have a Boeing 747 fly very low around Manhattan while being escorted by an F-16. Apparently, the FAA and the New York City Police Department were told of the stunt, but no one warned the public. Understandably, more than a few New Yorkers made for the exits, as reported by WSJ:

The low-flying 747 sent workers worried about a repeat of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks fleeing their offices in the New York City area.Traders bolted from the floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange after seeing the jets. The exchange, which sits on the east bank of the Hudson River in Lower Manhattan and is blocks from the site of the terrorist-destroyed World Trade Center, didn’t order an evacuation.

People trading oil, natural gas and other commodities on the Nymex floor apparently took no chances. A Nymex security official was “literally standing, holding his hands up in a calming gesture. Guys were running right past him,” said Pete Donovan, a vice president at Vantage Trading in the crude-futures ring. …

Construction workers fled the 43-story headquarters for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., currently under construction across the street from the trade center site. The workers later returned to the job.

In the end, there certainly were many photos taken, including these that were posted on the WSJ Web site.