At 10:39am today I received a text message and email from the City of New York’s NotifyNYC alert program saying that: “Planes observed flying over Lower Manhattan were part of an approved federal activity.” I happened to be at a hospital clinic at that moment so I had no idea what that message meant. A little later, I heard that there had been a 747 aircraft flying with two fighter jets near downtown Manhattan as part of a Department of Defense photo shoot. City officials knew about it in advance. However, citizens in the area did not, and there were hundreds of calls to authorities from worried New Yorkers.
