Plane crash in Manhattan

[Kanakaberaka]

About 3:00 PM today a small plane crashed into a tall apartment building on the East side of Manhattan. At first there were worries about terrorism, but now it appears to be an accident. It was not even certain at first whether the aircraft was a heilcopter or a small airplane. One witness discribed it as a "crop duster" which had me worried because using one to spray anthrax over the city was an idea floated by AlQueda. As of now only two people have been confirmed dead. Our local NY1 cable news station has the best coverage. Fox news just repeats the initial conflagration when flames shot from two floors of the huge building.

[Sven]

That explains why the HI CAP fighters are over DC again.

[jo]

I was just reading about it on BBC news. Am relieved it looked to be an accident but the people in the building must have been terrified. Sven, what are Hi cap thingies?

[Sven]

High Altitude Combat Air Patrol.

[Karen]

It seems that the pilot was Cory Lidle, a pitcher for the NY Yankees, flying his own plane.

[Sven]

The CBS station in NY is reporting that Lidel was the pilot, there are three dead from the plane, and one resident of the building is dead.

Lidle is married with a 9 year old son.

[Carrie]

There was also a moment of silence at the Tigers/Athletics game tonight. He used to play for the Athletics.

[JRosemary]

The Yankee's website has an article up about Lidle, his family and the terrible tragedy:

http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/NASApp/m ... p&c_id=nyy

[jo]

I guess it could have been a lot worse though ... it is fortunate that there were so few casualties (though unfortunate for them of course).

[Noontidal]

Wouldn't give Fox any flack for their coverage, CNN did the exact same thing, hour after hour, it took a full hour to discover there were 2 casualties. Sometimes I really hate CNN.