Kevin Chin/Yumi Nishiyama



A plane circling Lower Manhattan escorted by two fighter jets is part of a "photo op," said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters. The event caused some evacuations of office buildings in Lower Manhattan and Jersey City, N.J., on Monday morning.

Mr. Peters said the Defense Department is conducting a photo op that involves deploying two F-16s and escorting a Boeing 747 in the vicinity of Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. He said the maneuver is not an emergency and was coordinated in advance with the FAA and state and local officials.

"Theyll do two or three spins and be done by 10:30," Mr. Peters said.

Kevin Chin, a 25-year-old IT analyst with UBS working in Jersey City, N.J. was in the building when his coworker Yumi Nishiyama snapped this picture (above) at around 9:40 a.m. on her iPhone. "We didn't know what was going on until later on," said Chin, who did not evacuate the building.

Update:According to Reuters, the plane involved was one of President Barack Obama's backup aircraft. The wire service reported that Obama was not on board.

The "aerial photo mission," conducted by the Air Force's Presidential Airlift Group was supposed to be in the area of Lower Manhattan and New Jersey for around 30 minutes. It involved one 747 and one F-16 fighter jet, said Vicki Stein, an Air Force spokeswoman. "You would have to ask the White House the specifics on the mission," Stein said.

Update:The Staten Island Advance has some pictures of the plane as it was going over the island.

Readers: Did you see the planes circling over Lower Manhattan this morning?

Photos? Send your photos of the planes to yourphotos@wsj.com