Massachusetts Law Enforcement Network

Massachusetts Police News, Information and Discussions on MassCops

Posted by: Enforcer174

Aircraft crashes into Manhattan building
10/11/2006 3:16 PM
By: Associated Press
NEW YORK - A small aircraft crashed into a high-rise on the Upper East Side, setting off a fire and startling New Yorkers, police said. There were conflicting reports on whether the aircraft was a small plane or a helicopter.

Fire Department spokeswoman Emily Rahimi said an aircraft struck struck the 20th floor of a building on East 72nd Street. Witnesses said the crash caused a loud noise, and burning and falling debris was seen. Flames were seen shooting out of the windows. Video from the scene showed at least three apartments in the high rise fully engulfed in flames.
"There's huge pieces of debris falling," said one witness who refused to give her full name. "There's so much falling now, I've got to get away."
Whether anyone was injured was not known, and it was unclear if the crash was an act of terrorism.
The address of the building is 524 E. 72nd Street — a 50-story condominium tower built in 1986 and located nearby Sotheby's Auction House. It has 183 apartments, many of which sell for more than $1 million.

---

Posted by: TopCop24

Channel 7 and ESPN are reporting that the pilot of the plane was Cory Lidle of the Yankees. According to police his passport was found among the debris, so they have declared him dead.

---

Posted by: jasonbr

He was on my fantasy baseball team...

---

Posted by: Andy0921

It's not confirmed that Cory was in it or dead.

---

Posted by: 4ransom

I hope this is not based just on his passport being in the debris... He may have just had his luggage on there or somebody else was flying his plane with his passport aboard. They better be careful what they say, it is still really early

---

Posted by: FutureCop23

The Yankee's website confirms Lidle was among the fatalities: http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/NASAp...=.jsp&c_id=nyy

---

Posted by: jasonbr

I think they know it was lidle, but th ereason they don't come out and say it is because the wife is on another commercial flight - so they couldn't notify her first.

---

Posted by: USMCMP5811

Yankees pitcher dies as plane hits NYC building

Two dead; no evidence of terrorism, officials say

Jim Mcisaac / Getty Images File
Cory Lidle of the New York Yankees, seen on Sept. 13, was killed Wednesday when his plane crashed into a Manhattan high-rise.
View related photos
Slide show

• Images of the crash
From first impact to first responders, view images from the small plane crash in New York City.


getCSS("3088867")Video: NYC plane crash

• LIVE VIDEO: WNBC-TV
An aircraft crashed into a high-rise apartment building on Manhattan's Upper East Side in New York City on Wednesday.

• Cory Lidle dies in high-rise crash
• Small fixed-wing plane crashes
• 'I heard the impact'
• NBC News VP witnesses crash
• Witness describes NYC crash
• Aircraft crashes into NYC high-rise


getCSS("3053751") Did you know?
• Today in history: October 11
Celebrity birthdays, highlights in history, plus more facts about this day

• Take MSNBC.com's weekly news quiz


HIGH-RISE CRASHESNew York, Oct. 11, 2006
A small plane crashes into a 50-story condominium tower on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Two people, including New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle, are killed.
Tehran, Iran, Dec. 6, 2005
A military transport plane loaded with Iranian journalists slams into a 10-story apartment building. At least 115 people are killed.
Milan, Italy, April 18, 2002
A small plane crashes into a landmark building in Italy's financial capital. Three people are killed, including the pilot.
Tampa, Fla., Jan. 5, 2002
A 15-year-old boy steals a small single-engine plane and crashes it into the Bank of America building. Police say it was suicide.
New York, Sept. 11, 2001
Islamic terrorists hijack commercial airliners and crash them into both towers of the World Trade Center, killing about 2,600 people.
New York, April 29, 1990
A helicopter removing a satellite dish from the top of a 14-story building crashes onto the roof. The pilot is killed.
New York, July 28, 1945
An Army B-25 bomber crashes into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building and explodes, killing 14 people, including the pilot.

SOURCES: MSNBC.com research; Associated Press; New York Times; Islamic Republic News Agency; Empire State Building Co.• Print this


BREAKING NEWS
NBC News and news services
Updated: 37 minutes ago
NEW YORK - A small plane with New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle aboard crashed into a 50-story condominium tower Wednesday on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, killing two people and raining flaming debris on sidewalks, authorities said. NBC News confirmed Lidle was one of the two dead.
A law enforcement official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Lidle was on the plane. And Federal Aviation Administration records showed the single-engine plane was registered to the athlete, who just days ago — after the Yankees’ humiliating elimination from the playoffs — told reporters that he was getting his pilot’s license.
Lidle's passport was reportedly found on the street below the crash site.
Earlier reports had cited four bodies found; the city’s medical examiner’s office later confirmed only two people had died.
The FBI and the Homeland Security Department said there was no evidence it was a terrorist attack. “The initial indication is that there is a terrible accident,” Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said. Nevertheless, fighter jets were sent aloft over U.S. cities as a precaution, the Pentagon said.
The twin-engine plane came through a hazy, cloudy sky and hit the 20th floor of The Belaire — a red-brick tower overlooking the East River, about five miles from the World Trade Center — with a loud bang, touching off a raging fire that cast a pillar of black smoke over the city and sent flames shooting from four windows on two adjoining floors.
Firefighters shot streams of water at the flames from the floors below and put the blaze out in less than an hour.
Large crowds gathered in the street in the largely wealthy New York neighborhood, with many people in tears and some trying to reach loved ones by cell phone.
“I was worried the building would explode, so I got out of there fast,” said Lori Claymont, who fled an adjoining building in sweatpants.
Bodies found on ground, in apartment
Police initially said two people were killed. WNBC reported two bodies found on the ground, one of which was strapped to an aircraft chair. Two bodies were also found in an apartment in the building, the TV station said.
Young May Cha, a 23-year-old Cornell University medical student, said she was walking back from the grocery store down 72nd Street when she saw an object out of the corner of her eye.
“I just saw something come across the sky and crash into that building,” she said. Cha said there appeared to be smoke coming from behind the aircraft, and “it looked like it was flying erratically for the short time that I saw it.”
“The explosion was very small. I was not threatened for my life,” she added.
Richard Drutman, a professional photographer who lives on the 11th floor, said he was talking on the telephone when he felt the building shake.

Click for related content

• Watch live video from the scene
• Read WNBC’s coverage of the aircraft crash

“There was a huge explosion. I looked out my window, and saw what appeared to be pieces of wings, on fire, falling from the sky,” Drutman said. He and his girlfriend quickly evacuated the building.
Four-seater plane involved
NBC's Jay Blackman reported it was a fixed-wing aircraft operating under visual flight rules, which means the aircraft did not have to be in contact with air traffic controllers. WNBC reported the plane was a Cirrus 20, which can seat four.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it was too early to determine what type of aircraft was involved, or what might have caused the crash.
The plane left New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport, just across the Hudson River from the city, at 2:30 p.m., about 15 minutes before the crash, according to officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport. But they said they did not where the aircraft was headed.

FAA spokeswoman Diane Spitaliere said the plane was apparently not in contact with air traffic controllers; pilots flying small planes by sight are not required to be in contact.
The National Transportation Safety Board sent a team to investigate.
Former NTSB director Jim Hall said in a telephone interview he doesn’t understand how a plane could get so close to a New York City building after Sept. 11.
“We’re under a high alert and you would assume that if something like this happened, people would have known about it before it occurred, not after,” Hall said.

Airports operating normally
Mystery writer Carol Higgins Clark, daughter of author Mary Higgins Clark, lives on the 38th floor and was coming home in a cab when she saw the smoke. “Thank goodness I wasn’t at my apartment writing at the time,” she said. She described the building’s residents as a mix of actors, doctors, lawyers and writers, and people with second homes.
Sgt. Claudette Hutchinson, a spokeswoman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado Springs, Colo., said fighter jets “are airborne over numerous U.S. cities and while every indication is that this is an accident, we see this as a prudent measure at this time.”
However, all three New York City-area airports continued to operate normally, FAA spokesman Jim Peters said. In Washington, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said neither President Bush nor Vice President Dick Cheney was moved to secure locations.
“All indications are that is an unfortunate accident,” said Yolanda Clark, a spokeswoman for Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration. She said there was “no specific or credible intelligence suggesting an imminent threat to the homeland, at this time.”
Memories of Sept. 11
The crash struck fear in a city devastated by the attacks of Sept. 11 five years ago. Sirens echoed across the neighborhood as about 170 firefighters rushed in along with emergency workers and ambulances. Broken glass and debris were strewn around the neighborhood.
“There’s a sense of helplessness,” said Sandy Teller, watching from his apartment a block away. “Cots and gurneys, waiting. It’s a mess.”
The tower was built in the late 1980s and is situated near Sotheby’s auction house. It has 183 apartments, many of which sell for more than $1 million.
Several lower floors are occupied by doctors and administrative offices, as well as guest facilities for family members of patients at the Hospital for Special Surgery, hospital spokeswoman Phyllis Fisher said.
No patients were in the high-rise building and operations at the hospital a block away were not affected, Fisher said.

---

Posted by: Andy0921

RIP Cory

---

Posted by: RPD931

Damn..

---

Posted by: SOT

The small plane crap is nuts...

---

vBulletin Copyright ©2000 - 2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Limited.
vB Easy Archive Final ©2000 - 2008 - Created by Stefan "Xenon" Kaeser