Military plane circles low over Manhattan, prompts brief widespread confusion

A military plane that flew over Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon briefly caused widespread confusion as New Yorkers wondered why the aircraft was circling so low over the city.A spokesman for the FAA told Business Insider in a statement that the C-130 spotted overhead was 'conducting authorized flights over New York City in coordination with FAA air traffic control.'Col. Nicholas Broccoli of the 160th Rescue Wing addedto TheWashington Postthat the planewas simply carrying out'standard military training.'Aviation writer Jason Rabinowitz, however, said on Twitter that it is 'not normal' for military aircraft to circle so low over Manhattan.New Yorkers turned to Twitter to wonderwhat the C-130 was doing:#Military #plane C-130' Circling around #Manhattan. Anyone have answers' pic.twitter.com/U6Q7r9bvmZ' Sasha Moses (@sashamoses76) December 13, 2016@liamstack Some are loaded with electronic surveillance equipment. Deeply weird.' Dan Murphy (@bungdan) December 13, 2016A video of the plane that's been circling Manhattan pic.twitter.com/Bsj5ANEeW1' Alp Ozcelik (@alplicable) December 13, 2016The C-130 has departed Manhattan skies and, still, nobody has any idea what it was doing. pic.twitter.com/YrQUtUKC78' Lance Ulanoff (@LanceUlanoff) December 13, 2016Matt Hardigree, executive editor of publishing partnerships at Gizmodo Media, speculatedon Twitter that perhaps the military exercise was in relation to setting up increased security around Trump Tower.A C-130 is a pretty mundane aircraft by military standards, but if you were to test sensors put up on a Tower of sorts... pic.twitter.com/zecajazH3A' MattHardigree (@MattHardigree) December 13, 2016While it was not clear exactly what exercisethe aircraft was carrying out, theNew York Police Department appeared initially unaware of it.An NYPD spokesperson later told a WCBS journalist that he would "have to call either the Secret Service or the military" for more information on the exercises.A spokesperson for the Air National Guard did not respond return a request for comment.SEE ALSO:Kanye West caps off tweetstorm about meeting with Trump with cryptic '2024' tweetJoin the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: The last time a losing candidate had a wider popular vote margin than Clinton was in 1876 ' here's the bizarre story
Click here to read full news..