Plane Crashes into NYC Apartment Building, on the upper east side of manhatten.. Options

[*xcaitlinx*]

i turned on the tv at around 2:45 when i got home from school to find ABC news on. they were talking about a plane crashing into a building in NYC 2 minutes prior...and i flipped out. i got scared because i thought that it was a terrorist attack, but thankfully it wasn't. apparently they just confirmed moments ago that a new york yankee baseball player was on the plane and killed, but they aren't sure whether it was on purpose. this happened less than an hour ago so i'm not exactly sure what happened...


picture of the crash right after it happened

edit they just confirmed that 4 people were killed...

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A small airplane crashed into a 50-story residential building on Manhattan's East Side on Wednesday, killing at least two people, the New York City Fire Department and New York City Police Department said.

Flames were shooting out from several windows midway up the luxury high-rise in a residential neighborhood. Paramedics and rescue workers are treating people on the ground.

The Federal Aviation Administration described the plane as a "general aviation" fixed-wing aircraft flying under visual flight rules, meaning a pilot was flying by visual landmarks. (Watch the orange flames ravage the apartment -- 1:50)

The plane hit the Belaire Condominiums at 524 E. 72nd Street near the East River. More than 150 firefighters are on scene of a four-alarm fire in the building.

NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) said it had put fighter aircraft into the air over numerous U.S. cities, though they said they had no reason to believe the event in New York was anything more than an accident, sources told CNN's Barbara Starr. NORAD did the same thing after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

NORAD fighters scrambled in response, according to NORAD Admiral Timothy Keating, though the White House has told CNN that they have no indication that the crash is related to terrorism. Keating would not say how many NORAD jets are up but that they are airborne as a precaution. If the crash was indeed terrorism and there was a continuing threat then NORAD is charged with shooting down any aircrafts.

"We've been in contact with our intelligence partners, coalition partners around the world," Keating told CNN. "And there are no, repeat, no indication that there is anything underfoot beyond this one airplane or helicopter."

Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs New York area airports said he had "no idea where [the plane] came from."

"We haven't heard from any of our facilities that anything's missing," said Coleman.

New York City government source told CNN there are "no indications of terrorism."

The FAA placed a one-mile flight restriction around the site of the crash, but New York area airports were not affected.

A senior U.S. official in Washington said the administration was waiting for more information.

Witness Henry Neimark, who is also a pilot, said he saw a plane flying at relatively low altitude which seemed to come from LaGuardia International Airport.

"It looked to me in retrospect that this was a pilot desperately trying to get back to the airport and land safely on a runway," he said.

"The fire was raging out of two windows," witness Sarah Steiner told CNN. "It looks like the plane just flew into someone's living room."

Steiner said 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."

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

[mznikki]

its another horrible tragedy in new york </3 may they rest in peace. god bless them.

[think!IMAGINARIL...]

Oh. My. God.

I got so scared when I came home today. My dad is at work right now at the UN.. I thought it was a terrorist attack too! I thought that the plane crashed into the UN at first but then it said it was at 72nd street. But that's just a mile away from where my dad works!

And I just realized that my little brother goes to school less than 20 blocks away from there.. And he's not home yet. Hopefully nothing happened to him.
No, he got home fine. Just an hour later than usual.

Oh, and the plane was registered Cory Lidle, a Yankees pitcher.

[clarity]

omg, how sad.

how do they know it wasn't on purpose?

[*xcaitlinx*]

^ i said they aren't sure whether it was on purpose, but they know it wasn't a terrorist attack.

[Trinie]

omg i saw this on the news! there are 4 dead now. this is insane!

[me1issaaaa]

The pilot was the pitcher for the NY Yankees? RIP.

[think!IMAGINARIL...]

The pilot was the pitcher for the NY Yankees? RIP.

Well, he was a replacement player who was just traded from the Phillies this season.
He started his career with the Mets though..

Yes, RIP Cory Lidle, RIP.

[pandamonium]

yea they said that the pitcher was the second one from the yankees that died in a plane driven by themselves. something Munson was his name and it happened in the 1970's.

rip to all those people who died, its sad.

[kimmytree]

Ahh, I was thinking the same thing at first.

But what I dont get is, how are planes allowed to be flying around NYC like that, or any major city for that matter?

It could just as easily have been a terrorist attack, by using private planes instead of an airliner.

[think!IMAGINARIL...]

^ It wasn't a commercial jet.

I think it was a really small plane.

[kimmytree]

^ It wasn't a commercial jet.

I think it was a really small plane.

Yeah, I know that, but still. It would be so easy for someone to take a private plane and puroposly do something. Scary.

[Serendipity]

Woah. This is horrible. Brings back 9/11 memories. And this took place on ... 10/11? O.o Whatever. RIP, Cory Lidle, and everyone else who died.

[blucheri]

i live in nyc. (a first) and to say its crazy how a yankee crashing into a building just like in 9/11.

also if u write the date 10/11/06

and look at it upside down its 90/11/01 kinda like 9/11/01


crazy right

[kimmytree]

^ Woah thats kinda weird, with the date thing.

So did they ever figure out what actually caused the guy to crash his plane? Was he the one who was actually flying it, or was the other person?