Here's Why It Looked Like a Passenger Jet Was Being Escorted Over NYC Last Night

Social media started buzzing Tuesday evening over what looked like a passenger plane being escorted by a smaller jet over New York City.

@OpieRadio just seen a big plane with a fighter jet escort flying over the Hudson toward the city. You see it? pic.twitter.com/I0W6t521HJ

— Justin Koch (@RealJustinKoch) September 1, 2015

Radio talk show host Gregg "Opie" Hughes lives in a high-rise apartment on the Hudson River and recorded a few passes of the large plane with the small jet by its side on his cellphone.

Hughes told TheBlaze he saw the planes pass three times, "every 15 minutes, around 6:30, 7:30pm."

He posted two clips on YouTube, one showing the planes flying north and one covering the same pair headed south over the Hudson.

A representative for New York City's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting said they knew nothing about permits for any filming, and a call to the FAA was not immediately returned.

However, after Hughes' videos started to gain some traction online, social media offered an explanation.

The 2 aircraft going up the Hudson River today were a Dassault Falcon being photographed from an S2.11 trainer. NOT an airliner and fighter.

— NYCAviation (@NYCAviation) September 2, 2015

It turns out the air-to-air photo shoot was announced on Monday on Twitter:

Our pilots are eager to fly our #Falcon2000S first air-to-air photo session tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/lse60XSLHh

— Dassault Falcon (@DassaultFalcon) September 1, 2015

On Wednesday, more pictures from the high-flying photo shoot appeared online.

@NYC @NYCAviation Our Falcon 2000S flies the Hudson as we do a photo shoot over one of our favorite cities. pic.twitter.com/OFjZ5jaTVr

— Dassault Falcon (@DassaultFalcon) September 2, 2015

Mystery solved.

__

Follow Mike Opelka (@Stuntbrain) on Twitter.