Aircraft crashes into New York high rise building...Cory Lidle confirmed dead

[Matt700wlw]

Turn on any news channel, and it's being reported.

I hope it's nothing more than an accident, and I hope everybody's ok.

[vaticanplum]

This happened right down the street from where a friend of mine lives. She says she does not think it is scary terrorist stuff, but she's pretty freaked out.

[NJReds]

Conflicting reports so far. One says it was a helicopter - most others said it was a small plane. Although WABC-TV changed "plane" to "aircraft".

Helicopter wouldn't be too surprising. There are hundreds of them around the city - many at very low altitudes. A plane would be odd.

[vaticanplum]

Also, my friend says this is an apartment building, not a high-rise office building.

[HotCorner]

Per cnn.com

[vaticanplum]

Holy crap it's on 72nd and York! That's very close to the cancer hospital and research center. It's also where I used to walk dogs when I was a dog walker -- if it's the building I think, then I walked dogs in that very building.

[Red Leader]

525 E. 72nd St. is the address.

[Ltlabner]

Also, my friend says this is an apartment building, not a high-rise office building.

From the video on MSNBC it sure does look like an appartment building rather than an office building.

They are also saying that the FAA is saying it's a fixed wing GA aircraft instead of a rotary wing aircraft. Still conflicting reports.

[NJReds]

From the video on MSNBC it sure does look like an appartment building rather than an office building.

They are also saying that the FAA is saying it's a fixed wing GA aircraft instead of a rotary wing aircraft. Still conflicting reports.

It is an apartment building.

[vaticanplum]

I did used to walk dogs in that very building. Holy cannoli, my little babies alone in their apartments. God I hope everyone is ok. That does not look good. I have a text message in to my old boss, who walked dogs and also lives on 74th and 1st.

A bit of information: this is very close to the river, just a block west of the East River which separates Manhattan and Queens/Brooklyn. I'm pretty sure that the only helicopter landing pad is down near Kip's Bay, which is about 40 blocks south of this but on the same side, so a helicopter crash would make sense. (I *think* that's where it is -- it could be in midtown on the WEST side of manhattan, but I think it's the East Side.) This area is also hospital central. I did some work at Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, which is at 68th and York. Weill/Cornell/NY Presbyterian is also right there, on York between 69th and 70th. There are several high-rise residential buildings there, mostly modern one-bedrooms for young couples. Heavily populated by doctors and medical residents, obviously. Some families too. There's also a park (very little, non-grassy park -- really just an overlook for the river) at the end of 72nd street right by the river, just a few feet from where this happened.

Terrible.

[Red Leader]

It is an apartment building.

That is true. Here's a more recent picture.

[HotCorner]

[NJReds]

FDNY confirms a helicopter crash. (www.wabc.com)

[Red Leader]

NEW YORK (CNN) -- An aircraft has crashed into the middle of a brick luxury high-rise residential building on Manhattan's Upper East Side at 72nd Street and York Avenue, police officials said.

The building is very close to the East River. There was no word on casualties as firefighters battled the flames that shot up from several windows in the middle of the building. The Federal Aviation Administration has said a "general aviation" aircraft had hit the building.

A North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) spokesperson, which monitors air traffic, told CNN that it had not been tracking the aircraft.

Witness Sarah Steiner told CNN that fires were burning on the ground. "It looks like the plane just flew into someone's living room there."

"It looks as if the aircraft didn't go into the building but fell down," she said. "It may be part of the debris burning on the ground."

Steiner said that when she arrived, she saw fire shooting out of two windows on the 30th floor of the 50-story building.

Video from the scene shows at least three apartments in the high-rise fully engulfed in flames.

[Ltlabner]

I'm pretty sure that the only helicopter landing pad is down near Kip's Bay, which is about 40 blocks south of this but on the same side, so a helicopter crash would make sense. (I *think* that's where it is -- it could be in midtown on the WEST side of manhattan, but I think it's the East Side.) This area is also hospital central.

Helicopters would make sense, but there are also a large number of general avation aircraft buzzing around the skies in that area. Teterboro Airport is realtiviley close by and is home to many general avation fixed wing aircraft and excutive aircraft. While they typically don't fly over Manhattan, an fixed wing aircraft in distress could find it's way into that airspace. So both scenarios make sense.

But yes, terrible. Just terrible.