New York City was on edge today after a jumbo jet was spotted over the Lower Manhattan's skies being chased by a F-16 fighter jet. Many panicked and were forced to evacuate their office buildings. As it turns out, it was not a terrorist attack, but rather, a photo opportunity for Air Force one.

President Barack Obama was in Washington D.C. at the time, but the low-flying 747 is a part of Air Force One. The New York Police Department and city were notified of the planned flight, however that information was not passed on to NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other New Yorkers.

Considering that Lower Manhattan was the site of the infamous 9/11 terrorist attacks, the public should have been forewarned. One could only imagine the kind of panic that events like today's would cause for those who lived through that horrible event.

Just hours after the incident, Bloomberg called the photo op "insensitive", and was furious over the course of the day's events:

"First thing is I'm annoyed - furious is a better word - that I wasn't told," he said. "Why the Defense Department wanted to do a photo op right around the site of the World Trade Center catastrophe defies imagination. Poor judgment would be a nice ways to phrase."

The mayor said that federal officials notified the NYPD and another city official of the flight plan:

"Had I known about it I would have called them right away and asked them not to. The good news is it was nothing more than an ill considered, badly conceived, insensitive photo op - with the taxpayers' money."

The two planes flew over the Verrazano Bridge, then buzzed past the left ear of Lady Liberty, and continued on up the Hudson past Jersey City before circling back towards Staten Island. As the planes flew overhead, thousands flooded the streets of New York as buildings began evacuating.

The Department of Defense said that the Presidential Airlift Group began its aerial photographer mission at Andrews Airforce Base:

"This mission, involving the VC-25 and an F-16, was conducted in conjunction with normally scheduled continuation training for assigned aircrew members," said officials.