http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/video?id=6782675 If you turn up the sound, you can hear folks in the background screaming “Oh my God”.
Air Patrols Are Resumed Over the City
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/25/nyregion/air-patrols-are-resumed-over-the-city.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Organizations/A/Al%20Qaeda
By PHILIP SHENON
Published: Tuesday, March 25, 2003
The United States government has resumed 24-hour air patrols over New York City after law enforcement and intelligence agencies warned that the city was in special danger from terrorists during the war with Iraq, senior government officials said today.
The patrols, which are being conducted by Black Hawk helicopters and small, specially outfitted surveillance planes from the fleet of the Department of Homeland Security, began today without announcement, the officials said. The helicopters and surveillance jets are not armed but have radar and can call on fighter jets stationed nearby in an emergency, they said.
The 24-hour patrols will be the first over New York City since early last year, when the Defense Department suspended the continuous air patrols over New York and Washington that had begun in the hours after the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
Two months ago, round-the-clock air patrols were resumed in Washington, and officials said at the time that more air patrols could be expected in New York if the United States invaded Iraq.
Officials said the decision to resume the New York air patrols did not reflect a specific intelligence warning of a threat to New York from Al Qaeda or other terrorist groups.
''It is a reflection of the intelligence we have been receiving for some time that Al Qaeda will try to carry out an attack at the time of a military campaign in Iraq and that Al Qaeda continues to see New York as a prime target,'' said a senior official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. ''With the war under way in Iraq, that means special danger for New York right now.''
The decision to resume air patrols over New York comes a week after the Federal Aviation Administration tightened the restrictions on airspace over the city. Under the new rules, private pilots flying over or near New York are required to file detailed flight plans, to remain in close contact with local air traffic controllers and to use special government-issued codes through their aircraft beacons.
''It's added to our workload,'' said one air traffic controller at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, noting the increased communication between the tower and small private planes.
Asa Hutchinson, the undersecretary for border and transportation security within the Department of Homeland Security, said in an interview that the air patrols would monitor airspace within 30 miles of each of the major airports serving New York: Kennedy, La Guardia and Newark.
He said the patrols would serve as ''early detection'' and would force stray aircraft to land. If a plane refused to land, he said, ''there would be direct communication with the military,'' allowing a nearby fighter jet to scramble to intercept the aircraft.
Other officials said it was unclear if the 24-hour New York patrols would continue after the Iraq hostilities end.
''It really depends on what the intelligence is showing us at the time,'' an official said.
The Department of Homeland Security said 50 of its pilots and other crew members had been assigned to the mission to give 24-hour coverage over New York. The department declined to say how many Black Hawk helicopters and Cessna Citation II jets were assigned to the mission. (In 2001, Kennedy and La Guardia averaged a daily total of 1,800 flights of all types.)
When it formally took control this month of the Customs Service, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and several other agencies, the new department also took over a large fleet of planes that had been assigned to the individual agencies.
The UH-60A Black Hawk helicopters assigned to the mission are considered the largest, most powerful helicopters used by federal law enforcement agencies. Each of the 20,000-pound helicopters is outfitted with special infrared detection equipment.
Senior officials said that since the patrols resumed over Washington, several stray planes have been intercepted while flying toward landmarks in the capital; a small plane was intercepted today by an F-16 fighter and was forced to land outside Washington.
Officials said pilots involved in the New York patrols would be supplied with detailed, minute-by-minute readings from the Air and Marine Interdiction Coordination Center in Riverside, Calif., a special government facility that receives live radar data from around the country and can quickly detect unauthorized flights into restricted airspace over New York and Washington.