NEW YORK - A small aircraft crashed into a high-rise on the Upper East Side, setting off a fire and startling New Yorkers, police said. There were conflicting reports on whether the aircraft was a small plane or a helicopter.

Fire Department spokeswoman Emily Rahimi said an aircraft struck struck the 20th floor of a building on East 72nd Street. Witnesses said the crash caused a loud noise, and burning and falling debris was seen. Flames were seen shooting out of the windows. Video from the scene showed at least three apartments in the high rise fully engulfed in flames.

"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."

Whether anyone was injured was not known, and it was unclear if the crash was an act of terrorism.

The address of the building is 524 E. 72nd Street — 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.

Federal Aviation Administration officials say it's too early to say what type of aircraft was involved.





SOURCE

Piloted by none other than Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle

could you make up a story where a yankee flew a plane into a building in manhattan and have it be believable?

I don't know anything about his abilities as a pitcher, but as a pilot he sucked balls. The plane was in the air less than 15 minutes, he supposedly radioed in very soon after takeoff that he had some problems- he hit a building in fucking manhattan for chrissake at the 30th floor- maybe 350 ft above msl.

This dude was fucked up as a football bat.

He should have been able to turn the plane around and get back to teterboro or whatever field he took off from using his common sense and his compass alone. To be that low tells me he didn't set his altimeter before he took off, either.

Actually, what it sounds like to me is that he was a whiz-bang pilot with a nice electronic GPS chartplotter and altimeter and other instruments, and one or more of them failed.

People who can't navigate and fly a plane, when required, using only a compass, wristwatch and paper chart need to stick to driving boats- at least then you can shut down and think it over.

10 to 1 the final FAA and NTSB reports will list pilot error as the cause of this crash. Any takers?