A large military-style plane, which looked remarkably like a C-130, circled Manhattan for at least 30 minutes on Tuesday afternoon, causing quite the commotion online.
Despite the concern from New Yorkers, Eric Durr, Director of Public Affairs at New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs told Mashable the plane was simply an HC-130, a search and rescue plane, conducting routine training.
Durr explained that the folks flying the plane and helicopters around mid-town Manhattan on Tuesday, a crew based out of Gabreski Air National Guard Base in Westhampton, "specialize in retrieving people who are down behind enemy lines."
Though Durr knew what was going on, the rest of New York, and even some in the military, was left in the dark. A spokesperson at Air Mobility Command told Mashable they didn't know why the plane was there and were not sure if it was theirs. They were not made aware of any flight mission in the area today.
According to Tom Namako, Deputy News Director at Buzzfeed, the NYPD was initially unaware of the reasoning behind the plane, though they later said the planes were part of a military training exercise.
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Mashable later confirmed that the plane was part of the 102nd Rescue Squadron of the New York Air National Guard, which is a unit of the New York Air National Guard 106th rescue wing.
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Curious and concerned New Yorkers, completely unaware of why the plane was hovering so close did a little online freaking out and began posting photos and video of the plane on Twitter, along with possible explanations.
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An Air Mobility spokesperson told Mashable they've been trying to get in touch with the New York National Guard but, "We've been unable to get a hold of them at this point."
On Dec. 22, NBC 4 New York reported that law enforcement officials confirmed the low-flying military planes and helicopters spotted on Dec. 13 were for there for a training exercise involving the president-elect.
According to the news site, the planes were practicing how to land near Trump Tower and safely airlift the future president out of New York City.
Retired Army Maj. Mike Lyons and a current military analyst told NBC 4 New York that the mission may have also served as an opportunity to seek out rooftops in the city that could assist in future evacuations.
UPDATE: Dec. 22, 2016, 2:16 p.m. EST Updated with further clarification from NBC 4 New York.
Additional reporting by Colin Daileda.
