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

[RedFanAlways1966]

From FOX NEWS

NEW YORK — A small aircraft crashed into a high-rise building on Manhattan's Upper East Side Wednesday,

Local news reports quoted New York Fire Department officials as saying two people were confirmed dead. Officials said there is no indication the incident was a result of terrorism.

The crash set off a raging fire that sent a pillar of gray smoke over the city, police said. Witnesses reported seeing a gigantic fireball come out of the building, police said.

Flames could be seen shooting from windows on two upper floors of the 50-story building, near the East River. Burning debris fell from the tower, and a column of gray smoke rose over the city.

"There's huge pieces of debris falling," said one witness who refused to give her full name. "There's so much falling now, I've got to get away."

Fire Department spokeswoman Emily Rahimi said the aircraft struck the 20th floor of the building, located at 524 East 72nd Street.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it was a small aircraft that was involved, but there was very little other information collected so far. A helicopter would be expected in that area of the city; no other aircraft should be around that part of Manhattan, the FAA said.

"Everyone was running down the street, kids were screaming and crying," Rich Behar, a New York City resident and former Time magazine reporter, told FOX News. "There was a lot of horror and terror when it hit," Behar added, saying the whole ordeal reminded him of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The building is a 50-story condominium tower built in 1986 and located nearby Sotheby's Auction House. It has 183 apartments, many of which sell for more than $1 million.

[Ltlabner]

Reports now comming in that it was a multi engine fixed wing airfraft that hit the building. Apparetly it was flying eratically. It was flying up the East River which is used as a flight coridor and this building that was hit is directly next to the river.

IF (it's way early) that is true, a multi engine aircraft can be difficult to controll if they lose an engine and it typically creates a situation where strait ahead flight is very difficult.

Apparently the fire has been upgraded to a 4 alarm acording to Fox News.

[CrackerJack]

Huh, must be election time - gotta stir up some of the fear votes somehow I guess.

[redsfan30]

Huh, must be election time - gotta stir up some of the fear votes somehow I guess.

Lame.

[Chip R]

Huh, must be election time - gotta stir up some of the fear votes somehow I guess.

Take it to the Peanut Gallery or leave for good!

[Red Leader]

Huh, must be election time - gotta stir up some of the fear votes somehow I guess.

What a terrible thing to say. People died in this event. Many more are trapped by fire on the upper floors of this building. That's a completely assinine thing to say.

[letsgojunior]

Huh, must be election time - gotta stir up some of the fear votes somehow I guess.

I'm sorry - that's nothing short of disgusting.

There are people trapped on the top floors of a burning building - take your garbage elsewhere.

[Ltlabner]

Reports that floors 42 and up have been cleared. Main fire extinguished. Lots of smoke right now. Reports from FDNY and passed along by Fox News.

God, how I hope that is true.

[Chip R]

All right, people. It serves no purpose quoting that post over again no matter how disgusting it was.

[redsfan30]

Horrible, horrible flashbacks to 5 years ago.....

[Falls City Beer]

This is nothing like 9/11. Nothing at all.

[vaticanplum]

My boss has not returned my call, which is unlike her and is freaking me out. Chances of course that she is hurt are very slim but she is undoubtedly in the area.

but cell phones conked out completely during both September 11 and the blackout (which is one reason I will always have a land line). That could affect things too.

I wish they'd break into local programming here.

[Ltlabner]

According to Governor Patacki (sp?) on Fox News the Port Authority has accounted for all aircraft in the NYC area and none are "missing" or acting suspicious. Also, no credible intelligence of a pending attack was available to him or DHS.

Also, another report that all floors above the crash level have been cleared and that nobody is traped.

EDIT: It wasn't clear if the Gov was talking about all aircraft (including general aviation and rotary wing) or only commercial aircraft.

[dman]

Since 9/11 the FAA has been very strict on their guidelines involving flights of GA aircraft in and around the cities impacted by the 9/11 attacks. I'll wait until I find out more about the situation before I'll speculate too much. I will say however, the possibility of this being a helicopter involved is a more likely scenario than a fixed-wing aircraft.

I stand corrected, I see the stories coming out from the FAA that it was a small fixed-wing aircraft. I hope this was just an unusual accident. General Aviation is under enough scrutiny as it is already, with user fees trying to be implemented and also, a lot of the media already thinks of GA as a bunch of redneck, rag-tag pilots

[Ltlabner]

I stand corrected, I see the stories coming out from the FAA that it was a small fixed-wing aircraft. I hope this was just an unusual accident. General Aviation is under enough scrutiny as it is already, with user fees trying to be implemented and also, a lot of the media already thinks of GA as a bunch of redneck, rag-tag pilots

You nailed it. There is already a dude on Fox screaming that "unrestricted" airspace in areas in around the Hudson and that he knew this would happen all along. He's screaming about "little piper cubs" with bombs buzzing all over the place. In a few minutes he's worked the phrase "unrestricted" airspace into the interview more times than Ryan Freel says "ya know".