Aircraft Hits NYC building

[Alex T]

My boss just came up with this....if you turn 10/11/6 upside down you get 9/11/01. :shock:

uhm he left out the 06

it should be 10/11/06 flip it over its 10/11/09 i see what ur getting at but thats skewing the results to get what you want now if u were to reverse it....then drop the 0, sure it becomes 9/11/01 but its really skewed.

Alex

[Mateo]

The Cirrus has the parachute (CAPS system) because spin recovery was not demonstrated as part of the certification. If you spin a Cirrus, the recovery procedure is as follows:
1.) Activate parachute.
2.) Pay homage to Deity of choice while (hopefully) floating to earth.
3.) Calculate multiple of new hull/liability insurance.

The parachute handle, by the way, is located on the roof of the cabin under a safety cover, and requires about 100 lbs of downward force to activate. I picked up the fancy brochure at last year's AOPA open house, and while I can't find it right now, the chute envelope is something like >1000' AGL and <125kts. Also, once the parachute rockets through that composite material, the airframe is a loss - the expensive suite of avionics will have some residual value, but the insurance company is otherwise left with a big pile of fibreglass.

[hiss srq]

Mateo always gets to the bottom of how it works exactly. AOL has footage of it hitting the tower now supposedly via a coast gaurd cam has anyone seen it yet?

[GrummanFan]

The NY Times also has an interesting animation of the flight.

I saw the video, its a Coast Guard surveillance video from rather far away, not that good quality. All you see is the fireball, but its still kind of erie.

He was travelling north along the Hudson, then suddenly turns left 180 degress and hits the north side of the building. I'd guess some sort of mechanical failure.

[T-Bird76]

Reports of construction workers noted seeing inside the aircraft describing he looked panicked trying to fly the aircraft.

[Matt Molnar]

Today's Post spares no gory details in their description of the scene in a story titled 'Bomber' Pilot Crashes Plane.

The crash disintegrated most of the light plane, and both bodies were burned beyond recognition.

Last night, one of the victims remained strapped in his seat in the mangled cockpit, which lay on the street in front of the building.

The body of the other victim had been torn in half, with the lower part of his torso still missing.

NYTimes.com has a very impressive interactive flash animation depicting the events:
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/khtml/2 ... APHIC.html

And Alec Baldwin reminds us why everyone thinks he's a douche:

Actor Alec Baldwin tries to pass a police cordon near the site where a small aircraft crashed into a high-rise building in New York, October 11, 2006. (Chip East/Reuters)

[moose135]

He was travelling north along the Hudson, then suddenly turns left 180 degress and hits the north side of the building. I'd guess some sort of mechanical failure.

He was coming up to the end of the VFR corridor on the East River - any further north and he would need clearance from LGA. Perhaps they were trying to make a turn and either misjudged the distance or maybe got into the start of an accelerated stall trying to pull the aircraft around.

[Matt Molnar]

Who was flying the plane? $1.5 million is at stake for Lidle's family due to a clause in the MLB's life insurance policy which excludes claims for "any incident related to travel in an aircraft ... while acting in any capacity other than as a passenger."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/b ... ml?cnn=yes

[hiss srq]

I hope to god that it was the instructor but I fear that maybe this is not the case. On the other hand it does not have a black box so it should hopefully be impossible to tell who was the PF and who was the PNF there

[emshighway]

Who was flying the plane? $1.5 million is at stake for Lidle's family due to a clause in the MLB's life insurance policy which excludes claims for "any incident related to travel in an aircraft ... while acting in any capacity other than as a passenger."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/b ... ml?cnn=yes

He was the applicant for the registration of the craft. My wife drives my car (god forbid) while I'm in it I am still the owner of the vehicle.

[LGA777]

One contributing factor maybe that this was the California based instructors first time ever flying in NYC area airspace.

RIP guys.

LGA777

[cancidas]

watching that passur footage was the first time i ever saw an airplane dissapear off a "radar" screen. had to sit back and contemplate that one for a second...