Air photo shoot terrifies Sydney

Frantic spectators flooded radio stations with calls

Sydney office workers were terrified on Thursday to watch what looked like a large passenger airliner repeatedly bank over city skyscrapers.

It looked horribly like a re-run on September 11

Sydney resident Jennifer Thornthwaite

The large plane, which was shadowed by a military jet, circled the city just after 1100 local time (0100 GMT) for about 15 minutes before flying off.

"It looked horribly like a re-run on September 11" said office manager Jennifer Thornthwaite.

Radio talk shows were flooded with calls from residents worried that they were seeing a terrorist incident.

Photo opportunity

The Australian Defence Department later apologised for a mid-air photography exercise.

What looked like a passenger plane was actually a US Air Force RC-135 tanker, tailed closely by a Royal Australian Air Force Hawk trainer jet.

The Defence Department explained that the Australian jet was merely flying close to the US plane to photograph it for training purposes.

The US plane was on a visit to Australia and the photos were being taken so air force personnel would be able to understand and recognise the American jet.

"We do apologize to the people of Sydney that we didn't inform them," defence spokesman Tim Bloomfield said. "Normally we advise the public."