Organisers of Saturday's Riverfire event in Brisbane have been accused of being insensitive after footage of a military aircraft at the festival triggered flashbacks to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks for some viewers.
Part of the festival involved a massive C-17A Globemaster belonging to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) flying along the Brisbane River which snakes its way through the centre of the city.
"No, no, no, just no. Jet weaves through the skyscrapers of downtown Brisbane, on purpose. It was a rehearsal for an air show, causing immediate flashbacks to 9/11," said Mike Singleton, a senior executive at NBCUniversal on Twitter.
The aircraft took part in several rehearsals, so had been making the low altitude flyby at least once per day since Thursday.
"The rehearsal flight will see two flypasts, one flown at 1000 feet and then the second flown at a height not below 300 feet," RAAF said in a statement last week.
In response to Singleton's tweet, one Australian local said the angle of the video was deceptive.
"It's not immediately discernible in the angle in this video, but that plane is flying above a river that runs through the city. Not weaving in between buildings," Chad Ryan tweeted.
"Also it was widely publicised before it occurred so people weren't caught off guard."
Another response claimed the video wasn't even filmed in Australia.
"That's not Brisbane, that's an old video of a plane arriving at Kai Tak in Hong Kong. Been on several of them myself," David Upham said.
"I'm a pom and even I know that's Bris. Hong Kong - it's not remotely like HK, ya goon," a Twitter user called Dan replied.
The fly-by went ahead without incident on Saturday evening.
