Plane crashes into New York City building
A single-engine plane crashed into a high-rise building on New York’s Upper East Side high-rise today, killing four people, raining debris on the sidewalks below and rattling New Yorkers’ nerves exactly one month after the fifth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attack.
The four deaths were confirmed by the city medical examiner’s office. There was no word yet on injuries linked to the crash on an overcast October afternoon, which sent thick black smoke soaring above the city skyline and flames shooting out of apartments above the upscale neighbourhood.
A law enforcement official said that a member of the New York Yankees organisation was aboard the plane that crashed into the high-rise.
Federal Aviation Administration records show the plane was registered to pitcher Cory Lidle.
A law enforcement official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, said pitcher Coey Lidle was on the plane.
And Federal Aviation Administration records showed the single-engine plane was registered to the athlete, who just days ago – after the Yankees’ humiliating elimination from the playoffs – told reporters that he was getting his pilot’s licence.
Christine Monaco, a New York spokeswoman for the FBI, said there was no indication of terrorism.
Still, the Pentagon said fighter jets were scrambled above several US cities as a precautionary measure.
The plane hit the 20th floor of the Belaire – a tower overlooking the East River, about five miles from the World Trade Center – on a hazy, cloudy afternoon with a loud bang, touching off a raging fire that cast a pillar of black smoke over the city and sent flames shooting from four windows on two adjoining floors.
Firefighters shot water streams of water at the flames from the floors below and put the blaze out in less than an hour.
Large crowds gathered in the street in the largely wealthy New York neighbourhood, with many people in tears and some trying to reach loved ones by cell phone.
“I was worried the building would explode, so I got out of there fast,” said Lori Claymont, who fled an adjoining building in sweatpants.
On Sunday, the day after the Yankees were eliminated from the playoffs, Lidle cleaned out his locker at Yankee Stadium and talked about his interest in flying, explaining to reporters the process of getting a pilot’s licence and saying he intended to fly back to California in several days.
Rain started pouring at the scene at around 4pm, and people gazed up at the smoke and fire as they covered their heads with plastic bags. Mayor Michael Bloomberg went to the site, where parts of the plane fell to the ground.
“I just saw something come across the sky and crash into that building,” said Young May Cha, 23, a Cornell University medical student who was walking along 72nd Street. “There was fire, debris … The explosion was very small.”
Cha said it appeared the plane was “flying erratically” before it slammed into the building, where apartments sell for millions of dollars. Residents of the condo and the building next door were evacuated as thick black smoke wafted above the city skyline, and flames shot from the apartments where the plane crashed.
“I was worried the building would explode, so I got out of there fast,” said Lori Claymont, who fled the adjoining building in sweat pants.
The small private aircraft, with four seats, took off from New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport around 2.30pm (6.30 Irish time).
A federal aviation official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing, said the plane was a Cirrus SR20 – an aircraft equipped with a parachute designed to let it float to earth in case of a mishap.
The plane had flown around the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbour, then headed up the East River corridor before it slammed in the building, authorities said.
“It’s a mob scene with police and helicopters circling,” said Sandy Teller, watching from his apartment a block away. “There’s a dozen ambulances and lots of firefighters waiting on 72nd, on the corner. There’s lots of stretchers ready, gurneys.”
Fighter planes were scrambled over several cities across the country in the aftermath of the crash, despite the quick assurances that it was nothing more than an accident.
”We see this as a prudent measure at this time,” said Sgt. Claudette Hutchinson, a spokeswoman for the North American Aerospace Defence Command in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The crash struck fear in a city devastated by the attacks of September 11 five years ago.
Witnesses said sirens echoed across the east side of Manhattan as emergency workers rushed to the scene. The crash triggered a loud bang. Broken glass and debris was strewn around the neighbourhood.
Richard Drutman, a professional photographer who lives on the building’s 11th floor, said he was speaking on the telephone when he felt the building shake.
“There was a huge explosion. I looked out my window, and saw what appeared to be pieces of wings, on fire, falling from the sky,” said Drutman, who quickly exited the building with his girlfriend.
Mystery writer Carol Higgins Clark, daughter of author Mary Higgins Clark, lives on the 38th floor of the struck building and was coming home in a cab when she saw the smoke. She hasn’t been able to get into her apartment.
“Thank goodness I wasn’t at my apartment writing at the time,” she said. She described the building’s residents as a mix of actors, doctors, lawyers and writers, and people with second homes.
The building was built in the late 1980s and located near Sotheby’s auction house, and has 183 apartments
Several lower floors of the building are occupied by doctors and administrative offices, as well as guest facilities for family members of patients at the Hospital for Special Surgery, hospital spokeswoman Phyllis Fisher said.
No patients were in the high-rise building and operations at the hospital a block away were not affected, Fisher said. The Hospital for Special Surgery specialises in orthopaedic operations.
