Crash in New York City

I Hope everybody will be okay with minimal casualties.
I think it's a chopper, the hole looks pretty wide though, But i guess it crashed sidways, there was probably a problem with the tail rotor-Yeah they confirmed it's a chopper-and it spun and crashed sideways.I Hope the trapped people make it out.

eyewitnesses say it's a plane but I don't trust them.

The FAA says it is a fixed wing a/c, but their heads are usually where the sun doesn't shine. 🙄 The amount of flames showing, makes me think it was a small multi-engine fixed wing. But that is just a guess.

BTW, the Air Force just scrambled some fighters as a precaution.

The building is the Bel-Aire (sp?) at 72nd St. and York Ave. Fifty stories high, build around 1989. It is pretty close to La Guardia controlled airspace.

CrashGordon wrote:

When will they stop allowing unnecessary flights over heavily populated areas?

What would the point of that be? ya sure a plane OR helicopter crashed in a residential building but it might not be the pilots fault. It could have been a failure. If it was a helicopter (which fox news says) then they could have been picking up someone off the top of a roof. It is a fast way of transportation in a city. Accidents happen and just because of that they should not stop flying over populated areas.

Yeah now It's a fixed wing. Oh the hecktic of panic of a disaster/accident unfolding...

All the news cast i seen according to witnesses/FAA that it was
a small plane flying VFR and according to the witnesses that
seen the aircraft in flight before it hit the building that the plane
was doing acrobates wing dips meaning that he may have been in an
aggravated stall spin and when he regained straight and level
flight it was to late. Although this is according to witnesses and peoples
emotions run high at the time.

Edit: Its been confirmed that the aircraft was registered to
Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle.

A Cirrus SR20 Piloted by NY Yankee pitcher Cory Lidel.

I guess according to reports, Cory Lidle got his PPL sometime
this year and that he only owned the aircraft for 3 months. But
as with all news reports its just speculation right now.

just found out the pilot was Cory Lidell, the former Philly pitcher and used to be the New York Yanks pitcher

There were two killed in the crashed, Cory Lidell and then a flight instructors.

It has been confirmed:

NY Yankees baseball pitcher Cory Lidle is dead at the age of 34. He was killed in the crash with his instructor when the plane hit a high-rise apartment building in east Manhattan due to complications involving the aircraft's fuel system.

It was a Cirrus SR-20 that Lidle had just purchased and was getting instrument training in. He only had his private pilot's license since February.

RIP Cory Lidle 1972-2006. 😞

See the full story here:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/11/plane.crash/index.html

why on earth would anyone do instrument training over a city like NY?

Why are any flights other than pre booked necessary flights.. ie pick ups from a specific building / hospital aircraft / police aircraft allowed over a city like NY?

They believe he was sight seeing, he had circled the statue of liberty a few times.

why on earth would anyone do instrument training over a city like NY?

Why are any flights other than pre booked necessary flights.. ie pick ups from a specific building / hospital aircraft / police aircraft allowed over a city like NY?

Money! Sightseeing flights, tourist flights, as well as a plethora of totally unnecessary news helicopters. The skies over major cities should be cleared of everything but essential flights...commercial, police and emergency.

He wasn't sightseeing. Although I am unsure of whether he was receiving instrument training, or just general type-rating training to get used to his new Cirrus SR-20.

Either way, the instructor was in the plane with him for a reason.

And to Crash.. I know lots about NYC airspace, we studied it extensively in class, seeing that I live and fly only 60nm to the north of it.

The class B airspace surrounding all 3 NY metro airports (KJFK, KLGA, and KEWR) puts severe limits on VFR city flying as it is. There is a VFR corridor that goes down the Hudson, but it is extremely narrow and at some points 500 feet or lower. It's sort of rediculous if you ask me.. the fact that you can fly all the way down the Hudson River at 499 feet, right past the Statue of Liberty, and not once need to legally contact any controller. Sort of hard to picture in a post-9/11 world.. but it's true.

However, I believe the VFR corridor is temprarily closed while this crash is under investigation. But I assure you it will re-open, it always does.

I know the VFR corridor. In my view, safety and security trumps sightseeing and other unnecessary flights in a densely populated area.

Of course, the FAA always comes down on the side of making money for those it regulates... 🙄