It’s probably not terrorist related, but tragic nonetheless.
More from FOX News, live-blogging at Hot Air, Wizbang…
Update: Wizbang reports the plane was registered to Yankee pitcher Cory Lidle, who was killed in the crash.
Later…Confirmed.
Plane Crash in NYC
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I can’t tell you how my stomach turned to ice when I first saw this being reported. Thank God the death toll isn’t higher than it is, and that there wasn’t more damage. (To bring the building down.)
The Combat Air Patrols are up over a number of major cities, including here in Denver (launching from Buckley AFB, out east). I don’t think they know whether it’s terrorist-related or not yet, which is why they’ve scrambled the fighters.
A little about the Cirrus SR20
Once the SR20 is in a spin, it’s almost impossible to recover. He was probably too low to deploy the parachute on the airplane. It’s an unforgiving aircraft.
It brings bad memories… Anyway, I do hope that New Yorkers are more precautious now. It’s incredible how being proactive and carrying a compact Breath of Life emergency escape mask can save your life in a situation like this.
one problem with the Cirrus is its unforgiving handling compared to other basic four-seaters.
Well, yeah. Any mid-performance airplane will be more unforgiving than a basic four-seater like a Cessna, Piper, Diamond or whatever. That’s why they aren’t intended for 75 hour students. It doesn’t indicate a problem with the airplane itself, it indicates a problem with people moving up to higher performing airplanes before they’re ready. Low-time doctors have been crashing Beechcraft Bonanzas for decades, and low-time lawyers tend to meet the same fate in Mooneys. There was nothing wrong with the design of the Piper Saratoga JFK II crashed, and there is nothing wrong with the design of the Cirrus.
In this case, he had his instructor, so he shouldn’t have gotten into any unusual attitudes that he couldn’t recover from. The thing about the mooney and the bonanza is that you can recover from a spin, though it is much more difficult than a Cessna 172. It seems that there’s something unusual about the SR20. Maybe that’s why they built in the parachute.
It brings back bad memories?
I don’t think we should ever forget what happened to the world trade center. It should be played EVERYDAY on TV.
To ‘bring back’ memories kind of implies forgetting it. I suppose you DO want the same thing to happen again because you get lax in your vigilance?
I don’t believe unusual attitude and/or spin had anything to do with it. Visibility and ceiling were low – my guess (and I want to stress the ‘guess’) from what I’ve seen reported is that he was headed up the river, ran into low clouds, and tried a 180 back in the direction he came from. Had it been a stall/spin, he would have gone straight down, not horizonatlly into the side of a building. It’s a real stretch to blame the airplane on a CFIT accident.
Unfortunately, there is a large body of people out there who very much want us to forget what happened on 9/11/01 and all the ways in which our world HAD TO CHANGE because or it. If for no other reason than this, I will support the Republicans in this mid-term election because the Howard Deaniacs just don’t get it and I fear they never will. They honestly believe that if they just play nice, the murderous jihadists will spare their lives! More fools they.
This happened 5 years and one month to the day after 9/11. In an added coincidence, I was home sick from work yesterday (went to Vegas over the weekend and I’m paying for it – and not just in the pocketbook), just as I was home sick from work 5 years and 1 month ago. Chills are the least of it!
I just gotta comment …
I’ve flown fixed wing many times up the Hudson … at 1,700 ft. … to the TZ Bridge … and chugged along to White Plains. Real neat. Especially on a clear night.
However, as I sit here scrutinizing the NY TA Chart, I have to say that with the exception of maneuvering for LGA, I simply can’t see any reason why anyone would choose to fly fixed wing VFR up the East River. Maintaining a 2,000 radius from obstacles (and 1,700 MSL) means either flying up the center of the Hudson (which I’d far rather do), or flying the shoreline of Brooklyn/Queens.
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