Official resigns over NYC flyover

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House official who authorized a $328,835 photo op of Air Force One soaring above New York City resigned Friday just weeks after the flyover sparked panicked workers to rush into the streets and flashbacks to Sept. 11.

Louis Caldera said the controversy had “made it impossible for me to effectively lead the White House Military Office,” which is responsible for presidential aircraft. “Moreover, it has become a distraction in the important work you are doing as president,” Caldera wrote in his resignation letter to President Barack Obama.

An internal White House investigation found missed messages and portrayed an out-of-the-loop Caldera, clearly the administration’s fall guy.

The former Army secretary in the Clinton administration said he didn’t know Air Force One would fly at 1,000 feet during the April 27 photo shoot that had been planned for weeks. He also failed to read an e-mail message describing the operation and seemed unaware of the potential for public fear, according to the seven-page White House report.

Without an advance public notice the morning of April 27, the sight of the huge passenger jet and an F-16 fighter plane flying near the Statue of Liberty and lower Manhattan’s financial district terrified New Yorkers, reminding them of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in which jets brought down the two towers of the World Trade Center.

Last month, Obama called the White House embarrassment a “mistake” and vowed it would not be repeated. Obama had no statement Friday; White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the president had accepted Caldera’s resignation.

Caldera’s office approved the photo op, which cost $35,000 in fuel alone for the plane and two jet fighter escorts. The Air Force estimated the photo shoot cost taxpayers $328,835.

White House officials said the purpose of the flight was to update the official photo of the plane, known as Air Force One when the president is aboard. In releasing its report and the resignation letter, the White House also released a photo of the blue-and-white plane high above the Statue of Liberty, with New Jersey in the background.