Mild embarrassment for Australian Defence officials who have had to apologise to office workers and residents of Sydney for a public stunt that didn’t quite work as expected. The RAAF were bidding farewell to one of its oldest planes (a Boeing 707) and had organised a flypast over Sydney, escorted by a fighter aircraft.
Except the DoD hadn’t informed the public.
Panic ensues as office workers watch in terror as an air force fighter chases a passenger plane across the city skyline.
‘We saw what appeared to be a large commercial airliner trailing smoke, flying directly towards our 39th-floor offices, with a fighter jet in close pursuit’ said one onlooker, ‘it seems somewhat irresponsible for the Defence Force to fly a large plane towards the city’s largest office buildings.’
Apparently the DOD had informed the media but the message hadn’t been passed on.
Still… made for a good headline didn’t it.
