News
Financial workers panic at sight of low flying planes

April 27, 2009, New York – A low-flying Boeing 747 and a fighter jet over lower Manhattan caused a brief panic among office workers near Ground Zero.

It was part of a U.S. government photo opportunity and training mission involving a presidential plane this morning.

A floor trader at the New York Mercantile Exchange Building says workers received no official prior announcement about the exercise.

He says everyone panicked when they saw the low-flying planes and began running out of the building around 10 a.m.

About 1,000 workers gathered along the Hudson River esplanade until a security officer with a bullhorn told them it was a planned exercise.

The FAA had notified city law enforcement about the mission.

The Associated Press