Many New Yorkers, including US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, slammed the airline JetBlue's planned flyover above ground zero to honor coronavirus.
JetBlue is planning to fly three passenger planes above New York City at low altitude on Thursday evening, May 7. The flight was meant to honor healthcare workers and first responders who are fighting the ongoing pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus.
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According to Business Insider's latest report, news of the aircraft display did not please New Yorkers. The flight of JetBlue comes a week after the federal government staged a military flyover over America's largest city. According to Gothamist's previous report, the military flyover inspired the New Yorkers.
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The US Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron known as Blue Angels, and the US Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron known as the Thunderbirds also did a flyover over New York City as promised, including other parts of the tri-state area. The American flights flew last Tuesday, May 5, in honor of essential workers and frontline COVID-19 responders.
The flights showed patriotic display which lasted for about half an hour, said the report. The flyover began near George Washington Bridge, then flew over Hudson River, Manhattan, Newark, Brooklyn, and Queens Long Island.
JetBlue's planned honorary flyover for frontliners around ground zero was slammed by New Yorkers: Looks like 9/11 they say
Unlike the US flyovers, however, New Yorkers were unhappy with JetBlue's planned low-altitude flight. According to Business Insider, the flyover's path is where some of the backlashes stemmed. JetBlue's aircraft will depart from John F. Kennedy International Airport, and then will fly around the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and then go back down to Manhattan.
The passenger planes will fly around the old World Trade Center, a complex of seven buildings in lower Manhattan, which were destroyed by a terrorist attacked on September 11, 2001. The terrorists hijacked two Boeing767s and crashed the planes into the two largest towers of the World Trade Center; 2,763 people died because of the attack.
The planned JetBlue flights made some people ask on social media as to why would JetBlue fly passenger planes around New York at such a low altitude since the terrorist attack are still very much alive in the minds of many New Yorkers. Amanda Mull, a New York-based illustrator, described the flights as "frivolous, tone-deaf, and savagely useless" in a Twitter post.
that they can't think of anything to do to "honor" new york besides repeatedly sending us low-flying planes is, like, incredible absurdist performance art — Amanda Mull (@amandamull) May 7, 2020
For some New Yorkers, the flyover does not appear to give substantive help to the first responders and health workers. It was also reported that essential workers have expressed their frustration with being called "heroes" instead of being provided a pay raise since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
