Plane crashs in NYC

[Ace Pace]

A small plane has crashed into a building in New York City.

It happened on the Upper East Side of Manhattan island.

TV pictures show flames coming out of the high-rise building.

More to follow.

[Narsil]

A small plane has crashed into the side of a building on the island of Manhattan. The building is on fire and people are believed to be trapped by the "very heavy smoke". There is confusion as to whether it was a plane or helicopter that crashed into the building on the Upper East Side, on East 72nd Street.

Authorities have said the crash is unlikely to be a result of terrorism.

At least one apartment on the 19th floor and two or three apartments on the 20th floor are ablaze.

The building is 39 storeys high.

One witness said: "It's really bad."

I hope that this isn't the result of terrorism, I really do. Why can't that poor city get a fucking break for goodness' sake? Between plane/helicopter crashes into apartment buildings, 9/11 and stupid-arse politicians... bloody hell.

[Ace Pace]

Duh of course its not. But people are still panicing.

[Mayabird]

Update: looks like an accident

Yankees pitcher dies when plane hits NYC building

By Stevenson Swanson
Tribune national correspondent
Published October 11, 2006, 6:08 PM CDT

NEW YORK -- A small fixed-wing aircraft piloted by a New York Yankees pitcher slammed into a posh Manhattan residential skyscraper Wednesday afternoon, leaving at least two people dead and the city reeling with initial fears of terrorism over what was determined to be a tragic accident.

Nonetheless, as a precaution North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) scrambled fighter jets over several U.S. and Canadian cities minutes after the plane crashed into the midsection of the 50-story building at 2:45 p.m. Eyewitnesses said the plane smashed into the north face of the red brick building, producing a fireball that engulfed several apartments around the 30th floor and dropped debris into the street.

The aircraft, a Cirrus SR 20, carrying an instructor and a pilot believed to be Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle, took off from New Jersey's private Teterboro Airport, just across the Hudson River from northern Manhattan, at about 2:30 p.m. The pilot reportedly made a distress call just before colliding with the 18-year-old Upper East Side structure.

Joe Torre, manager of the New York Yankees, confirmed that the plane belonged to Lidle, 34, who came to the Yankees from the Philadelphia Phillies on July 30. Lidle reportedly earned his pilot's license about one year ago and bought the 2002 four-seat aircraft, with about 400 hours in the air, for $187,000.

With the constant scream of sirens echoing through the city and television images of fires blazing and smoke billowing from windows, the aftermath of the crash immediately invoked memories of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But, within 90 minutes of the crash, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI issued statements describing the incident as an apparent accident, not terrorism, in hopes of reassuring the public.

A spokesman for the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications said the city was monitoring the crash in New York, while communicating with federal aviation and emergency management contacts. The Illinois Air National Guard knew of the New York crash, but had not contributed fighter jets from the 183rd Fighter Wing in Springfield to air defense anywhere in the state, a spokeswoman said.

Among the swiftest to respond was the Sears Tower. Management spokesman Mark Spencer said an e-mail was sent soon after the crash to reassure tenants that it appeared to be an accident.

Shortly after the crash, hundreds of New York police officers and firefighters swiftly converged at the Belaire condominiums, on East 72nd Street between York Avenue and the FDR Drive in a response that was "massive, quick and coordinated," said New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaking at a late afternoon press conference.

Manuel Larrea, 66, was in his 24th floor apartment when he heard the plane approach the building. "It was a motor, it was roaring. One or two seconds later, I heard the explosion. I felt a boom. It was all of a sudden. It was terrible," said Larrea, who works as a butler for a family living in a 48th floor penthouse.

The neighborhood is one of the city's most affluent, filled with hospitals, medical offices and expensive apartments like those at the Belaire, where an 864-square-foot two-bedroom unit currently is listed at $1,049,000. A number of the lower floors of the Belaire house medical offices.

Long tongues of flame flared from shattered apartment windows before firefighters brought the fire under control about 30 minutes after it began. Eleven firefighters were treated for minor injuries. No fatalities or serious injuries among building residents initially were reported.

After circling the Statue of Liberty, the 2002 Cirrus SR 20 flew up the East River corridor between Manhattan Island and the borough of Queens, said Bloomberg. Portions of that corridor are legal for pilots flying small craft under Visual Flight Rules (VFR), which means that they rely on their eyes, not instruments, to navigate. They are not permitted to fly over the city itself unless they receive permission from the Federal Aviation Administration.

It was a foggy afternoon in Manhattan, but rain did not arrive until well after the time of the accident. The aircraft was equipped with a parachute that could be deployed to help a plane in land, although apparently it was not activated.

In an interview with the New York Times published last month, Lidle spoke about the plane's safety feature.

"The whole plane has a parachute on it," Lidle said. "Ninety-nine percent of pilots that go up never have engine failure, and the 1 percent that do usually land it. But if you're up in the air and something goes wrong, you pull that parachute, and the whole plane goes down slowly."

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[Hotfoot]

My sister lives a short distance from that place. She probably had several patients come in to her hospital as a result of this.