New Photos Released From Flyover Blunder : The Pentagon also released the flight manifest

NBC NewYork.com ^ | 7/31/2009 | VICTORIA CAVALIERE

[mojitojoe]

Responding to dozens of requests from the public, the Defense Department has released 146 more photos from the infamous Air Force One flyover that struck fear in thousands of unsuspecting New Yorkers in April.

The photos are posted right on the Pentagon's Website, defense officials said today. The Pentagon also released a heavily redacted flight manifest.

The April 27 photo-op caused quite a fright in Lower Manhattan and New Jersey, as many people who had lived through the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks thought the city was again under siege. Workers poured out of office buildings as the planes buzzed the city near the Financial District.

Local officials in New York and New Jersey had not been informed of the photo-op, which cost some $328,000, and the lack of communication and needless worry caused by the incident led to the resignation of Louis Caldera, the Obama official behind the stunt

[Eagles6]

We do have a monkey on our backs, addicted to spending money it doesn’t have.

[Pikachu_Dad]

These photos are really weird?

Frankly most of them suck wind.

The ‘photoshoot’ lasted 49 minutes from 9:24:56 to 10:14:11

The F16 makes an appearance in only the first 36 shots.

First 9 are a right side shot with the F16 nearest us.

Next 9 are with the F16 just above AF1.

Next 9 - 1 side view 8 with F16 above

Next 3 with F16 dropping back behind AF1

Next 2 with F16 above again

Last 3 with AF1 near and F16 distant

---

After that it is all Solo AF1.

Pics 37 to 72 are of AF1 approaching the New York.
Just off the east coast.

Pic 73 at 9:57:59 and next 8 is of the first Statue of liberty. From google, It appears to be taken at about 800 feet.

83 & 84 is of AF1 banking left

85 to 97 are of AF1 flying south, then west then back north

Pic 98 & 99 are the only two shots on the SECOND Statue of liberty shot. Perhaps at 900 ft by eyeballing using google.

Then we have two shots of AF1 banking, from the bottom with 30 Hudson street in the background.

Photos 100 to 106 are more circling back around shots...

The third pass he takes a lot more shots. from 107 to 121 of AF1 with the Statue of Liberty above it in the background. Perhaps at 1100 ft by eyeballing with google.

Shot 123 appears to be AF1 over Ellis island

Remaining shots from 125 on to end are of AF1 over clouds. At least he finally zooms in from 132 on for the final 14.

[Pikachu_Dad]

Well, don’t know how to format this properly.

A lot of those photos were taken on autoshoot at 3 second intervals.

Larger time gaps are marked with the X.

First column is pic number
Next column is elapsed time in photoshoot.
Next column is minutes since last pic
x indicates a time break.
Then a brief description on what was going on.

Pic Minutes Delta Scene Notes Notes Notes
1 - DC438 & AF1 Over Monmouth Angle 1 Side view
2 0 0.0
3 1 0.9 x
4 1 -
5 1 0.0
6 1 0.0
7 1 0.0
8 1 0.0
9 1 0.1
10 2 0.6 x DC438 & AF1 Up high Angle 2 Slightly above
11 2 0.0
12 2 0.0
13 2 0.6 x
14 2 0.0
15 2 -
16 2 0.0
17 2 0.0
18 2 0.0
19 3 0.4 x
20 3 0.3 x Side view again
21 5 1.7 xx F16 above
22 5 0.0
23 5 0.1
24 6 0.7 x
25 6 0.2
26 6 0.1
27 6 0.1
28 6 0.0
29 7 1.2 x F16 drops back
30 7 0.2
31 8 0.3
32 8 0.4 F16 above again
33 8 0.0
34 10 2.2 x AF1 near F16 distant
35 10 0.1
36 11 0.3
37 14 3.1 x Solo AF1 from below just off smooth coast
38 14 0.0
39 21 7.1 x
40 24 2.9 x
41 24 0.1
42 24 0.0
43 24 0.1
44 24 0.1
45 24 0.0
46 25 0.8 x
47 25 0.1
48 25 0.1
49 26 1.2 x
50 28 1.5 x
51 28 0.0
52 28 0.1
53 28 0.1
54 29 0.7
55 29 0.0
56 29 0.1
57 29 0.0 road dual lane across water
58 29 0.6 probably hwy 278
59 29 0.0
60 30 1.0 x over water
61 31 0.4
62 31 0.1
63 31 0.2
64 31 0.1
65 32 0.3 over land again
66 32 0.2
67 32 0.0
68 32 0.0
69 32 0.1
70 33 0.5 x over water again
71 33 0.1
72 33 0.1
73 33 0.2 AF1 still solo first statue of liberty shot perhaps 800 ft
74 33 -
75 33 -
76 33 0.0
77 33 -
78 33 -
79 33 0.0
80 33 -
81 33 -
82 33 0.0
83 33 0.2 AF1 banks up and left
84 33 0.0
85 34 1.2 x AF1 heading south parallel to I95 over I78
86 35 0.1
87 35 0.2
88 35 0.3 no ground
89 35 0.0
90 35 0.1
91 35 0.1 shot underneath
92 35 0.1 banking with I278 bridg in bk ground
93 35 0.0
94 36 0.1 AF1 banking flying towards I278 bridge
95 36 0.1
96 36 0.0
97 36 0.1 bank shot NY in background
98 37 1.2 x Statue of liberty shot New York in foggy background
99 37 - AF1 underside Banking left 30 Hudson street in Background
100 37 0.2 AF1 underside Banking left 30 Hudson street in Background
101 37 0.1 AF1 Heading south again
102 39 1.9 x Back left side of AF1 Sky shot
103 39 0.1
104 39 0.1 Back left side with oil tanks and river in background
105 40 0.8 over water
106 40 0.3
107 41 0.6 AF1 banking Statue of liberty shot above plane 1100 ft
108 41 -
109 41 0.0
110 41 -
111 41 0.0
112 41 -
113 41 0.0
114 41 -
115 41 0.0
116 41 0.0
117 41 -
118 41 -
119 41 0.0
120 41 0.0
121 41 - end of series of shots of AF1 banking around SOL
122 41 0.1 AF1 heading west again and banking
123 41 - AF1 over Ellis island
124 43 2.2 x AF1 heading south Why 2 minute gap?
125 43 0.1 AF1 Sky shot
126 47 3.8 x Sky shot Why 3 minute gap
127 47 0.1
128 47 0.0
129 47 0.1
130 47 0.2
131 48 0.1
132 48 0.1 At least a close up of AF1 left side Over clouds
133 49 0.9
134 49 0.0
135 49 0.0
136 49 0.1
137 49 0.1
138 49 0.1
139 49 0.0
140 49 0.0
141 49 0.0
142 49 -
143 49 0.3
144 49 -
145 49 0.1
146 49 0.0

[snowsislander]

Wow, that was quick.

Using exiftool and pdfimages under Linux, almost of the work was automatic. I just had to do a quick reformatting of the output from exiftool in order to get the html table.

For that matter, I found some of the other data that other tools such as emacs dig out (including the name, rank, and email address of the gentleman who put this pdf together) kind of interesting.

Also, if I am not missing something, the camera used was the very nice Nikon D3X:

Even more interesting it appears to me (and this isn't something that I do every day, so I could be wrong) that these photos were taken at a much higher resolution than what is in the pdf file.

[Pikachu_Dad]

So were all the photo’s taken by the same person?

I would expect the camera to be at max resolution since they wanted large pictures.

They may have shrunk them down to fit all 164 into a single pdf without it being too large for us to view.

The photographer likes to take series of 9 pictures.

Now why did they want a photo of AF1 with an F16 that was loaded with weapons?

And why did they not want pics of AF1 with the F16 and the Statue of liberty? They dispense with the F16 early on.

So where was this F16 plane and what was it doing while the camera plane (the D model from Alabama - which would be the one with the red tail) was taking pictures?

[snowsislander]

I wasn't quite clear on your column notation, but here is a quick attempt at reformatting your table into an html one (you should be able to either copy it into a spreadsheet, or you should be able to use "View Source HTML" if your browser has that capability):

Pic	Minutes	Delta	Scene	Notes Notes Notes
1	-			DC438 & AF1 Over Monmouth Angle 1 Side view
2	0	0.0
3	1	0.9	x
4	1	-
5	1	0.0
6	1	0.0
7	1	0.0
8	1	0.0
9	1	0.1
10	2	0.6	x	DC438 & AF1 Up high Angle 2 Slightly above
11	2	0.0
12	2	0.0
13	2	0.6	x
14	2	0.0
15	2	-
16	2	0.0
17	2	0.0
18	2	0.0
19	3	0.4	x
20	3	0.3	x	Side view again
21	5	1.7	xx	F16 above
22	5	0.0
23	5	0.1
24	6	0.7	x
25	6	0.2
26	6	0.1
27	6	0.1
28	6	0.0
29	7	1.2	x	F16 drops back
30	7	0.2
31	8	0.3
32	8	0.4		F16 above again
33	8	0.0
34	10	2.2	x	AF1 near F16 distant
35	10	0.1
36	11	0.3
37	14	3.1	x	Solo AF1 from below just off smooth coast
38	14	0.0
39	21	7.1	x
40	24	2.9	x
41	24	0.1
42	24	0.0
43	24	0.1
44	24	0.1
45	24	0.0
46	25	0.8	x
47	25	0.1
48	25	0.1
49	26	1.2	x
50	28	1.5	x
51	28	0.0
52	28	0.1
53	28	0.1
54	29	0.7
55	29	0.0
56	29	0.1
57	29	0.0		road dual lane across water
58	29	0.6		probably hwy 278
59	29	0.0
60	30	1.0	x	over water
61	31	0.4
62	31	0.1
63	31	0.2
64	31	0.1
65	32	0.3		over land again
66	32	0.2
67	32	0.0
68	32	0.0
69	32	0.1
70	33	0.5	x	over water again
71	33	0.1
72	33	0.1
73	33	0.2		AF1 still solo first statue of liberty shot perhaps 800 ft
74	33	-
75	33	-
76	33	0.0
77	33	-
78	33	-
79	33	0.0
80	33	-
81	33	-
82	33	0.0
83	33	0.2		AF1 banks up and left
84	33	0.0
85	34	1.2	x	AF1 heading south parallel to I95 over I78
86	35	0.1
87	35	0.2
88	35	0.3		no ground
89	35	0.0
90	35	0.1
91	35	0.1		shot underneath
92	35	0.1		banking with I278 bridg in bk ground
93	35	0.0
94	36	0.1		AF1 banking flying towards I278 bridge
95	36	0.1
96	36	0.0
97	36	0.1		bank shot NY in background
98	37	1.2	x	Statue of liberty shot New York in foggy background
99	37	-		AF1 underside Banking left 30 Hudson street in Background
100	37	0.2		AF1 underside Banking left 30 Hudson street in Background
101	37	0.1		AF1 Heading south again
102	39	1.9	x	Back left side of AF1 Sky shot
103	39	0.1
104	39	0.1		Back left side with oil tanks and river in background
105	40	0.8		over water
106	40	0.3
107	41	0.6		AF1 banking Statue of liberty shot above plane 1100 ft
108	41	-
109	41	0.0
110	41	-
111	41	0.0
112	41	-
113	41	0.0
114	41	-
115	41	0.0
116	41	0.0
117	41	-
118	41	-
119	41	0.0
120	41	0.0
121	41	-		end of series of shots of AF1 banking around SOL
122	41	0.1		AF1 heading west again and banking
123	41	-		AF1 over Ellis island
124	43	2.2	x	AF1 heading south Why 2 minute gap?
125	43	0.1		AF1 Sky shot
126	47	3.8	x	Sky shot Why 3 minute gap
127	47	0.1
128	47	0.0
129	47	0.1
130	47	0.2
131	48	0.1
132	48	0.1		At least a close up of AF1 left side Over clouds
133	49	0.9
134	49	0.0
135	49	0.0
136	49	0.1
137	49	0.1
138	49	0.1
139	49	0.0
140	49	0.0
141	49	0.0
142	49	-
143	49	0.3
144	49	-
145	49	0.1
146	49	0.0

[snowsislander]

So were all the photo’s taken by the same person?

I haven't looked at the source file closely enough to see if that's distinguishable --- if I am lucky, there will be some difference indicating two cameras --- but there's no way to tell without spending some time on analysis.

I would expect the camera to be at max resolution since they wanted large pictures.

From just looking through, I think they were likely done in TIFF format, but probably not at the highest resolution if this was done with a D3X (it's capable of very high resolution.)

They may have shrunk them down to fit all 164 into a single pdf without it being too large for us to view.

Yes, I rate that as highly likely from looking at the raw data.

The photographer likes to take series of 9 pictures.

Now why did they want a photo of AF1 with an F16 that was loaded with weapons?

On these, I don't know.

And why did they not want pics of AF1 with the F16 and the Statue of liberty? They dispense with the F16 early on.

So where was this F16 plane and what was it doing while the camera plane (the D model from Alabama - which would be the one with the red tail) was taking pictures?

I can't tell this from the data in this file; however, there are almost 1000 pages of data supplementing this and I have only read about 120 of those pages.

[Pikachu_Dad]

That’s great. I have got to learn how to do that.

Time zero is the time stamp on the first picture.

So the TIME column lets us know how many minutes into the photo shoot each photo was taken.

The DELTA is the time, in minutes, between photos.

[Pikachu_Dad]

Oh. There he is. It is probably

Brig. Gen. Jeffrey R. Johnson.

Commander of the 113th Wing Leadersip!

[Pikachu_Dad]

Oh. There he is. It is probably

Brig. Gen. Jeffrey R. Johnson.

Commander of the 113th Wing Leadersip!

[Pikachu_Dad]

On page 531, we have a 13 waypoints marked on the map.

1 ANDREWS AFB
2,Flying North Easterly
3,4,5,6,7 Flying East to tip of Coast south of Atlantic City
8,9,10,11,12 Flying NEalong coast, entire length of
13, Turn just west of due North and fly to 13... the start of the racetrack.

On page 530, tags on map.

12 359 degrees fro 36.67 minutes 07+20 (altitude?)
13 ? degrees for ? minutes 01+04
14 17 degrees for 1.61 minutes 00+19
15 ? degrees for 1.49 minutes 00+18
16 280 degrees for 1.61 minutes 00+19
17 224 degrees for 5.89 minutes 01+11
18 164 degreees for 1.29 minutes 00+16
19 119 degrees for 2.39 minutes 00+29

[Eye of Unk]

I know this all happen a while ago and has probably been said but Obama is just like a loser who wins the lottery, they buy bling and show it off to their friends, they burn through the winnings in short order because it means nothing to them.

America means nothing to Obama, its nothing but a joyride with his friends on AF1 and anything else.

Its time to get real people back into the Whitehouse.

[Pikachu_Dad]

Correction

12 359 degrees for 36.67 nautical miles 07+20 minutes
13 ? degrees for ? nautical miles 01+04 minutes
14 17 degrees for 1.61 nautical miles 00+19 minutes
15 ? degrees for 1.49 nautical miles 00+18 minutes
16 280 degrees for 1.61 nautical miles 00+19 minutes
17 224 degrees for 5.89 nautical miles 01+11 minutes
18 164 degreees for 1.29 nautical miles 00+16 minutes
19 119 degrees for 2.39 nautical miles 00+29 minutes

[tanknetter]

So where was this F16 plane and what was it doing while the camera plane (the D model from Alabama - which would be the one with the red tail) was taking pictures?

Having seen the pictures with the Red Tail F-16, I don't believe that it was a "D" (two-seater), but rather a "C" (single-seater). The fact that the 187FW (AL ANG) only has the one Red-Tail F-16, and it's a "C", would seem to confirm this.

[Pikachu_Dad]

Page 451 has the detailed flight plans

Captial 81 was call sign for the F16’s

Tail for planes were 438 and 379.

DC438 is the one in the photos

so 379 must be the one taking pictures.

379 would be the one in the civilian pictures for the 3 loops around the statue of liberty.

Where was DC438 during this time?

[Pikachu_Dad]

Page 450

Plane F16C
Serial number 85-1438
Unit charged 113 Wing
Mission number Capitl 91
Issuing unit is the 121 FS
Flown by a Col

Plane F16D
Serial number 87-0379
Unit charges 133 Wing
Issuing unit is 121FS
Flown by a LtCol

[Pikachu_Dad]

Curious.

Page 447

The printed document issued on 4/24 shows two different planes for the flight. Both F-16C.

Was listed as 85-1465 — changed to 1438
Was listed as 85-1461 — changed to 0379

Plane 1465 flown my a major was shifted to Bully1 flight from 850 to 1028.

The 0379 plane was not in the lineup for the day.

[Pikachu_Dad]

Lets back up to this email.

On page 443, there is an email.

From: Lt Col USAFR WHMQ/PAG
Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 1:14pm
CC: Turner, Scott M. Col USAF WHMO/PAG
Subject: RE: Photo Op

I got your message about the D model having to go
back to Alabama. I guess we’ll hope for good wx on the 27th and use the 28th as our only b/u for now. Our jet isn’t available on the 29th. Thanks,

Hmmm. The D model plane is from Alabama.
It is important to the photo shoot.
So important that they have moved up the schedule to accommodate it.
Yet it was not the plane listed to fly on that day.
They had to hand write it onto the schedule?

That doesn’t make sense.

Because the D model plane is the ONE TAKING THE PICTURES !!!

[tanknetter]

HEY. That bird is loaded with weapons !!!

*NOT* LIVE WEAPONS.

AIM-120s on the wingtips (stations 1 and 9), AIM-9s on the outer wing pylons (stations 2 and 8). But they have blue bands, indicating training rounds, not live missiles which would have yellow (denoting live warhead) and brown (denoting live rocket motor) bands.

Inner wing pylons (stations 4 and 6) are carrying fuel tanks. ECM pod on the centerline (station 5 - looks to be a member of the AN/ALQ-119 family - maybe an AN/ALQ-184?) and what looks to be either a LANTIRN or LITENING targeting pod on the starboard cheek station (station 5R)

So the interesting thing is that the aircraft is loaded to LOOK like it's carrying weapons, but it really isn't. The combination of an air-to-air loadout, with an air-to-ground targeting pod AND that long AN/ALQ pod (I haven't seen the long version mounted on a Viper in years. These days they seem to carry either a short AN/ALQ-184 or the AN/ALQ-131 series, which has a rectangular body) without any bombs (admittedly, stations 3 and 7 appear empty ... which is where the bombs would go for an air to ground mission) is pretty weird.

My analysis would be that it's an "airshow" load, where the squadron hangs stuff on the bird just to make it look cool.

[tanknetter]

Because the D model plane is the ONE TAKING THE PICTURES !!!

My bad on earlier post. 187FW does have a red-tailed F-16D, apparently the one involved: pic here