A VC-25 aircraft and an F-16 fighter jet flew low above lower Manhattan on Monday morning, causing panic among some New Yorkers fresh with memories of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and angering Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The planes, authorized by the U.S. military on a "photo-op" mission, flew as low as 1,000 feet to 150 feet (about 305 meters to 46 meters) over Manhattan, State Island, and neighboring New Jersey, and circled the Statue of Liberty, local media reported.

The VC-25 aircraft is the military version of Boeing 747. The one involved in Monday's flyover was one of the customized Boeing 747s that serve as Air Force One when the U.S. president is on board.

Thousands of people were evacuated from buildings in New York and across the Hudson River in New Jersey following the sighting of the low-flying jets, the New York Daily News reported.

"I didn't know what was going on. Some planes were circling the building. I was afraid. I was here when the World Trade Center went down," the paper quoted Eunice Davis, who was evacuated from the New York Mercantile Exchange, as saying.