Aircraft Hits NYC building

[Matt Molnar]

FAA confirms it was a small, fixed-wing aircraft. They also said that only helicopters belong in that area, and there's no good reason for other types of aircraft to be over that part of Manhattan. I'm not quite sure what that means, since there are GA planes going up and down the East River all the time.

[hiss srq]

Well right now it looks like the ceillings were well above the tops of everything weather was overcast at 1500 feet so visibility should not be an issue I would not think but that is my take NORAD is taking it seriously. Maybe it was a husband who was pissed that his wife got with the mailman and decided to teach her a lesson who knows but these friggin "experts" probably 80 hour cocktail pilots coming on tv about this are irking me. Seriously I mean the media and their "experts" are really something.

[GrummanFan]

Flight origionated out of TEB, apparantly. Somehow I'm getting a tv station on the LGA freqs on Live atc...

[Matt Molnar]

Without any specifics, I can't help but think of Dr. Bartha here if anyone knows what I am talking about.

I'm definitely on the "foul play" page right now, whether it was terrorists or an eccentric nut like Dr. Bartha. (Dr. Bartha was the guy who blew up his own Upper East Side building to avenge his wife's divorce a couple months back, killing himself in the process.) I'm 99% sure this was not weather related. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I can look out the window right now, look at the pictures and video from the scene, and look at official weather observations and see that it simply was not foggy enough for a pilot not to be able to see a 500 foot building right in front of them.

Of course there are potentially non-cynical explanations for this, a catastrophic equipment failure, or the pilot suffering a sudden crippling medical condition, but that would be extraordinarily bad luck for that to happen and to hit a building.

[Matt Molnar]

!FDC 6/3156 ZNY NY.. FLIGHT RESTRICTION NEW YORK, NY. EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. PURSUANT TO TITLE 14 CFR SECTION 99.7, SPECIAL SECURITY INSTRUCTIONS, ALL AIRCRAFT FLIGHT OPERATIONS ARE PROHIBITED. WITHIN A 1 NMR OF 404600N/0735712W OR THE LGA262003.7 UP TO AND INCLUDING 1500 FT AGL EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE, UNLESS OTHERWISE AUTHORIZED BY ATC.

[hiss srq]

I tend to agree with you Matt because I checked weather and ceillings were in the range of 1800 feet well above the estimated several hundred feet elevation this took place at and vis. is reported around 9NM

[Matt Molnar]

From Fox News Channel:

[hiss srq]

quite a small plane did not even really make a dent in the structure itself

[Matt Molnar]

Channel 2 saying NYPD reports no other serious injuries aside from the two deaths. No confirmation on whether the dead were both on board the plane.

The plane, reportedly a single-engine Sirrus, had apparently departed from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey shortly after 2:30 p.m. The accident occurred at 2:42 when the plane slammed into the Belaire apartment building at 524 E. 72nd Street. There is word the plane was part of a sight-seeing tour.

Another witness, who apparently works inside the building, told CBS-2 News' Scott Rapoport that she had seen a plane appear as if it was moving around almost acrobatically, and that it dropped over one building before crashing. Air restrictions prohibit aircraft from flying around these areas of the city.

[RDU-JFK]

lol, Someone at Channel 2 can't spell...it's Cirrus, not Sirrus.

[Matt Molnar]

The FAA says the plane was registered to Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle. There is no word if Lidle was in fact on the plane.

[Matt Molnar]

Channel 2 now reports 4 dead.

[GrummanFan]

They are saying his passport was found on the ground by the crash site...rip

[fly.mcs]

The news is reporting the Yankees pitcher is dead =[

Very tragic.

[Matt Molnar]

NYTimes.com:

Yankees Pitcher Cory Lidle Was Killed in the Plane Crash, High-Ranking City Official Says