CNN iReport

On Monday 04/27/09, while waiting to board a ferry to the Statue of Liberty, I witnessed, photographed, and videoed the incident with Air Force One flying around the Hudson River.

I was startled to see the nose of a 747 coming low toward me, over the harbor, near the iconic statue. Then it turned north, and  the aircraft was immediately identifiable by its markings as AF1 -- I also noted the fighter near its wing and that sealed it for me as the President's plane. Unlike what I later heard reported, it flew around three times; it never flew near the buildings of Manhattan (as it appears in some photos); and, after one millisecond of wondering what a jumbo jet was doing there, I was not scared. Neither were those near me. We conjectured that it was President Obama in town for something and doing fly-bys.

We were probably the closest people to the event. A few minutes before this happened, on the P.A., an announcement was made that nobody would be allowed into the Statue of Liberty that day. Somebody said it was some order from the FAA.

My take: A few rumor-mongers in some buildings, probably within view only of alarmist news feeds, freaked a few people out and screamed, a plane is coming!

The spin the media put on it and went with was not accurate, and the tragedy is that somebody may get fired for it. It is enough that the Administration apologized for it. The poorest judgement was shown in not publicizing the event in jet-flyover-traumatized New York. If ultimately, investigation finds that the FAA decided that the event would remain confidential, then that agency must take responsibility.

I was a visitor to NYC; I did not take my laptop with me. I truly did not have space for it. There was a cyber-cafe near my hotel; I didn't have time to check it out. The hotel room had internet, but with $18 oatmeal, I didn't even check out how much the internet access would have been.

View 3 stills AND VIDEO and note the NON-panic in the people, who continued to board the ferry normally, stand in line, look at the plane, even walk off.

Later I talked to Kevin, a State Park Ranger on Liberty Island, and he didn't even know about any of it because he had been inside -- I had to show him the photos. --Nancy Lloyd 05/03/09