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New York Yankee Pitcher Killed in Manhattan Plane Crash |
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Thursday, 12 October 2006 |
A single-engine Cirrus SR-20 plane piloted by Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle smashed into a 42-story building on the Upper East Side yesterday, killing Mr. Lidle and his flight instructor. Weather at the time was low overcast with limited flight visibility. The National Transport Safety Board officials were on site by did not speculate on the cause of the crash.
Mr. Lidle and his flight instructor had taken off from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey and were on a site seeing flight around Manhattan Island, New York.
The aircraft slammed into the center of a 501-foot building on East 72nd Street several hundred yards from the East River. Many New Yorkers had thought another Sept. 11 attack had occurred as they watched smoke drifting toward the sky as firefighters clambered into the high-rise. The North American Aerospace Defense Command scrambled military jets initially but were told to stand down shortly afterwards. Why another similar type crash had not occurred previously puzzles many aviation experts. In order to fly down the East Hudson River and view the many landmarks pilots are required to fly between 500 feet and 1100 feet above the water remaining below the busy airspace above. At a point just north of 79th Street pilots cannot proceed no further north unless they obtain permission from LaGuardia Air Traffic Control – many simply make a 180 degree turn over the 2,000 foot wide river and head southbound back toward the Statue of Liberty. With low ceilings and reduced visibility it is not hard for inexperienced aviators to loss situational awareness. Radar contact was lost at 500 feet above the ground and shortly after at 2:42 p.m. the aircraft collided into the Upper East Side high-rise. A preliminary report from the NTSB is still pending.
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