The FAA - Instant Ignorant Dolts!

While we have grandfathered certain people into our Ignorant-Dolt-of-the-Week (The Loofah Man, The Cheeseburger That Sweats, among them), we haven't had to instantly, on extremely short notice, drag out the crown and sceptre.

But today, we do, bestowing on the Federal Aviation Administration, for scaring the bejesus out of New York City, and surrounding area residents, today, instant Ignorant Dolt status.

Air Force One Backup Rattles New York Nerves

Updated, 11:59 a.m. | An Air Force One lookalike, the backup plane for the one regularly used by the president, flew low over Manhattan on Monday morning, accompanied by two F-16 fighters, so Air Force photographers could take pictures. But a lack of awareness about the flyover led to the evacuation of several buildings in Lower Manhattan and Jersey City, and perplexed officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and other authorities were inundated with calls from anxious ferry passengers, office workers and residents.

[Snip]

Later on Monday morning, the Police Department acknowledged that it had been notified about the event but said it had been barred from alerting the public. “The flight of a VC-25 aircraft and F-16 fighters this morning was authorized by the F.A.A. for the vicinity of the Statue of Liberty with directives to local authorities not to disclose information about it but to direct any inquiries to the F.A.A. Air Traffic Security Coordinator,” the Police Department said in a statement.

[Snip]

Unaware of the planned exercise, scores of office workers flooded out of buildings, worried about the prospect of terrorism.

“People came pouring out of the buildings, the American Express Building, all the buildings in the financial district by the water,” said Edward Acker, a photographer who was at the building, 3 World Financial Center. “And even the construction guys over by 100 North End Avenue area, they all got out of their buildings. Nobody knew about it. Finally some guy showed up with a little megaphone to tell everyone it was a test, but the people were not happy. The people who were here 9/11 were not happy.”

Incredibly Ignorant Dolts!

Joe Weisenthal: The Government's Rotten Explanation For Terrorizing NYC

Pareene: Airplane Flies Around Manhattan, Scares Everyone

Raw Story: Low-flying Air Force One lookalike freaks out NYC

Zachary M. Seward: N.Y. plane scare: From terrifying tweet to news report — in 4 minutes