CNN: Aircraft crashes into New York building

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NEW YORK (AP) -- Police say an aircraft has crashed into a building on Manhattan's Upper East Side at 72nd Street and York Avenue. It is near Rockefeller Center.

There was no word on casualties.

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

It's unclear if it was a small plane or a helicopter.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:12 (nineteen years ago)

link to story

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:14 (nineteen years ago)

OK this isn't really the important bit is it but 72nd & York = near Rockefeller Center? I guess nearer than, say, Ronkonkoma is?

― Allyzay lives aprox. 200 feet away from a stadium (allyzay), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:16 (nineteen years ago)

"site is near a heliport"

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:16 (nineteen years ago)

FDNY: PEOPLE TRAPPED IN HIGH-RISE

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:17 (nineteen years ago)

I'm gonna assume that this was an accident. I know people who live there, I think, but presumably they weren't at home. This is 3 blocks both from where my rents live and my Dad works, but they're out of town.

Xp: they mean Rockefeller University

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:18 (nineteen years ago)

CNN EXPERT: The U.N. tells us that it was a helicopter that crashed -
CNN ANCHORWOMAN: NO, THE F.A.A. SAYS IT WAS A "SMALL AIRCRAFT".

Last I checked, HELICOPTERS WERE SMALL AIRCRAFT.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:19 (nineteen years ago)

I'm glad you still give the news media that much credit. xpost

― Allyzay lives aprox. 200 feet away from a stadium (allyzay), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:19 (nineteen years ago)

Intel officials say they have no reason to suspect this is a terrorist attack!

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:21 (nineteen years ago)

there is a heliport at east 34th street, not entirely close, but yeah.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:21 (nineteen years ago)

FAA says it was fixed-wing

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:22 (nineteen years ago)

IF A HELICOPTER'S GOT FIXED WINGS, OF COURSE IT'S GONNA CRASH.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:23 (nineteen years ago)

Am I a fool to think that emergency vehicles I am hearing way downtown are responding to this?

― Ruud Comes to Haarvest (Ken L), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:23 (nineteen years ago)

OCTOBER SURPRISE!

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:23 (nineteen years ago)

Last I checked, HELICOPTERS WERE SMALL AIRCRAFT.

yes but not all small aircraft are helicopters.

― otto midnight (otto midnight), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:23 (nineteen years ago)

*holds back*

― JADED INTERNET DUDE (Enrique), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:28 (nineteen years ago)

NEW YORK (AP) -- A small plane crashed into a high-rise on the Upper East Side, raining down debris on Manhattan and unleashing what witnesses reported was a gigantic fireball, police said.

The aircraft struck the 20th floor of a building on East 72nd Street, said Fire Department spokeswoman Emily Rahimi. Witnesses said the crash caused a loud noise, and burning and falling debris was seen. Flames were seen shooting out of the windows.

"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."

The Federal Aviation Administration said it was too early to determine what type of aircraft was involved, or what might have caused the crash in the middle of a hazy October afternoon.

Witness Sarah Steiner, who lives one block away, told CNN that "The fire was raging out of two windows on approximately the 30th floor. ... They are evacuating the building."

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

The address of the building is 524 E. 72nd Street -- a 50-story condominium tower built in the late 1980s and located near Sotheby's Auction House. The Belaire Condo, developed by William Zeckendorf Jr., has 183 apartments, many of which sell for more than $1 million.

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:29 (nineteen years ago)

Yea, I hear those too Ken

― roc u like a § (ex machina), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:29 (nineteen years ago)

another act of divorce/suicide/property destruction?

― Dr. Alicia D. Titsovich (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:31 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

― Ruud Comes to Haarvest (Ken L), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:31 (nineteen years ago)

i just stepped outside (i'm near penn station nowadays) -- nothing out of the ordinary happening, but i saw 2 police choppers go by in the general direction of where the crash is.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:31 (nineteen years ago)

10/11

― 0xDOX0RNUTX0RX0RSDABITFIELDXOR^0xDEADBEEFDEADBEEF00001 (donut), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:35 (nineteen years ago)

This is sorta roughly my home neighborhood, but currently I'm like eighty miles away.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:36 (nineteen years ago)

10/11/06 is 9/11/01 upside down, heh.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:37 (nineteen years ago)

Perhaps a lone crazy? A mini-reenactment of 9/11 type deal?

― Super Cub (Debito), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:38 (nineteen years ago)

NORAD reports fighter aircraft deployed over several US cities.

― Edward III (edward iii), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:40 (nineteen years ago)

Just in case.

― Edward III (edward iii), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:41 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.illustratedillusions.com/images/skyfalling.jpg

― Jimmy Mod is COMPLETELY MISERABLE SAN DIEGO (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:42 (nineteen years ago)

a guy who knows a guy said that there were no Jews in the building today

― stet (stet), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:43 (nineteen years ago)

10/11/06 is 9/11/01 upside down, heh.

That's a little freaky.

― GILLY'S BAGG'EAR VANCE OF COUPARI (Ex Leon), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:44 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.explodingdog.com/dumbpict51/theskyisfalling.gif

― Jimmy Mod is COMPLETELY MISERABLE SAN DIEGO (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:45 (nineteen years ago)

i've been sitting here at my desk at home hearing all these sirens and just ignored them for about 25 minutes and then finally went and turned on the tv to see if there was something going on. hmm. hope people got out of the building ok. i'm about 9 blocks south, so of course the streets around here are all backed up forever. 1st avenue is total gridlock.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:46 (nineteen years ago)

10/11/06 upside down is technically 90/11/01. If we allow "01" then we can't ignore ALL zeroes.

</DONUT BEING PEDANTHOLE>

― 0xDOX0RNUTX0RX0RSDABITFIELDXOR^0xDEADBEEFDEADBEEF00001 (donut), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:46 (nineteen years ago)

and ken i'm sure the sirens you're hearing are responding to this, because it looks and sounds like every emergency vehicle in the city is on its way.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:47 (nineteen years ago)

anyway, hopefully no one was home, and hope there's help for the dozens of folks this will affect. :(

― 0xDOX0RNUTX0RX0RSDABITFIELDXOR^0xDEADBEEFDEADBEEF00001 (donut), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:48 (nineteen years ago)

it should be said, though, that we didn't have this news then all of the sirens wouldn't have been all THAT out of the ordinary for manhattan this time of day.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:49 (nineteen years ago)

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/baby_attack.jpg

― Edward III (edward iii), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:51 (nineteen years ago)

"One person is confirmed killed after plane crashes into New York apartment building, New York Fire Department says."

*hits head against desk*

OK, blocking CNN now.

― 0xDOX0RNUTX0RX0RSDABITFIELDXOR^0xDEADBEEFDEADBEEF00001 (donut), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:53 (nineteen years ago)

10/11/06 upside down is technically 90/11/01

wrong, upside down it's: http://img279.imageshack.us/img279/9889/neverforgetpr1.jpg

― ▒█▄█ ▄▄▄ ▒█▄█ , Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:58 (nineteen years ago)

xpost, great timing dere

― ▒█▄█ ▄▄▄ ▒█▄█ , Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:59 (nineteen years ago)

No kidding.

― Edward III (edward iii), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 19:00 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.iflipflop.com/iraq_homeland.jpg

― Jimmy Mod is COMPLETELY MISERABLE SAN DIEGO (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 19:01 (nineteen years ago)

could you stop posting big ass images on a fast moving thread. Although that last one is pretty funny.

― Super Cub (Debito), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 19:03 (nineteen years ago)

if you're a pussy about image size then the evil ones have already defeated us. man up, bro.

― Jimmy Mod is COMPLETELY MISERABLE SAN DIEGO (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 19:15 (nineteen years ago)

man up, or hide images.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 19:18 (nineteen years ago)

outta the way, ppl, fast-moving thread coming through.

we've got shit to DISCUSS, STAT

― gbx (skowly), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 19:20 (nineteen years ago)

ha ha!

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 19:28 (nineteen years ago)

Typical New York thread

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 19:29 (nineteen years ago)

What, sirens blaring, buildings on fire, people peering out their windows at gridlock?

― Edward III (edward iii), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 19:30 (nineteen years ago)

Tacos, Burritos, Margaritas...

― researching ur life (grady), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 19:35 (nineteen years ago)

Skipping 141 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

is anyone else making their "oh-shit-that's-fucked-up" face at lidle's expression of disappointment they keep running?

like "aww, i'm dead now"

― Hoosteen (Hoosteen), Thursday, 12 October 2006 00:42 (nineteen years ago)

hahahaha crazy aspect of this story #87234:

apparently mets third-base coach manny acta lives in the building.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 12 October 2006 01:54 (nineteen years ago)

I have a good idea, how about no small airplanes are allowed to fly within 10 miles of any city with large building anywhere, especially those that have been the vicitms of terrorist attacks. How about that rule? huh?

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Thursday, 12 October 2006 02:59 (nineteen years ago)

"They fly under “visual flight rules,” meaning they avoid collisions by visually keeping track of other aircraft, and maneuvering to avoid conflicts."

So basically they look out of the window and try not to crash into each other?

― Hello Sunshine (Hello Sunshine), Thursday, 12 October 2006 07:34 (nineteen years ago)

Yep, that's how it works (as per David Gunson's after dinner speech CD "What Goes Up Might Come Down")

― C J (C J), Thursday, 12 October 2006 07:55 (nineteen years ago)

Apparently Sarah Ferguson lives in the building opposite, which means the Duke of Edinburgh was probably behind the whole thing.

Oh, and here is a picture of a Cirrus SR20 with its funky parachute thing going on.

― Hello Sunshine (Hello Sunshine), Thursday, 12 October 2006 08:07 (nineteen years ago)

wasn't fergie "almost" in 9/11 too?

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 12 October 2006 08:17 (nineteen years ago)

yeah but she skipped it on a tardis

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 12 October 2006 10:23 (nineteen years ago)

Chablis Quarterman?

― Young Fresh Danny D (Dan Perry), Thursday, 12 October 2006 11:03 (nineteen years ago)

Gear, your sentimental patriotic collage is killing me over here

― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Thursday, 12 October 2006 11:50 (nineteen years ago)

Apparently.

xpost

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Thursday, 12 October 2006 11:55 (nineteen years ago)

WTF does it say about me that as soon as this turned into a sports story I totally lost interest?
-- nabisco (--...), October 11th, 2006.

xpost - it says you're a nerd, nabisco.

-- hstencil (hstenc!...), October 11th, 2006.

Yeah, hstencil doesn't know any sports nerds, let alone work for any!

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 12 October 2006 12:02 (nineteen years ago)

MORBS CAN'T READ

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 12 October 2006 12:25 (nineteen years ago)

catch a ride with a Yankee.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 12 October 2006 12:46 (nineteen years ago)

Gear, your sentimental patriotic collage is killing me over here
I'm still digging it. There is some sort of unstoppable visual rhyme between the Cory L pout and the jay blancmange anti-Mona Lisa smirk.

― Ruud Comes to Haarvest (Ken L), Thursday, 12 October 2006 13:01 (nineteen years ago)

Is "catch a ride with a Yankee" the new "subsequentially meet the Brooklyn pavement"? I like it better than the old one, it's catchier, funnier, showing significant improvement. A-.

― Allyzay lives aprox. 200 feet away from a stadium (allyzay), Thursday, 12 October 2006 13:06 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.stlouiswalkoffame.org/images/phyllis-diller.gif

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 12 October 2006 13:10 (nineteen years ago)

Is this the same fite that is on every thread ever?

― Ruud Comes to Haarvest (Ken L), Thursday, 12 October 2006 13:14 (nineteen years ago)

Sorry. Now that I used that formulation, I feel unclean.

― Ruud Comes to Haarvest (Ken L), Thursday, 12 October 2006 13:15 (nineteen years ago)

guys, show a l'il more respect for cory lidle, and go back to making jokes.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 12 October 2006 13:43 (nineteen years ago)

• Feb. 16, 1961 -- 18 members of the U.S. figure skating team, in Belgium.

I'm waiting for the mindblowing Luc Sante essay about this

― geoff (gcannon), Thursday, 12 October 2006 13:53 (nineteen years ago)

how's that for nerdy

― geoff (gcannon), Thursday, 12 October 2006 13:54 (nineteen years ago)

this would unnecessarily inconvenience rich ppl though.

― teeny (teeny), Thursday, 12 October 2006 14:01 (nineteen years ago)

More or less inconvenient than having a plane crash into your building?

― ailsa (ailsa), Thursday, 12 October 2006 14:19 (nineteen years ago)

"any city with a large building" would shortly be defined to include towns with pop. 480 and a single 10,000sqft warehouse

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Thursday, 12 October 2006 14:37 (nineteen years ago)

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d143/seth50k/nevarforget.jpg

― StanM (StanM), Thursday, 12 October 2006 17:20 (nineteen years ago)

Worst episode of "The Jeffersons" ever.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Thursday, 12 October 2006 18:22 (nineteen years ago)

I love how officials are now seeing this as some kind of potential terrorist threat and trying to pass overly restrictive regulations as a result - "OMG, THEY COULD FLY TINY PLANES INTO APARTMENT BUILDINGS AND KILL HANDFULS OF PEOPLE!" (someone probably said this upthread already, but sorry guys, you want me to read 216 posts on this thing? Not gonna happen.)

I also love how news networks always try to get as much mileage out of these things as possible by doing in depth stories on recreational use of small planes.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Thursday, 12 October 2006 18:28 (nineteen years ago)

Lots of discussion from pilots over on rec.aviation.piloting. This exchange was particularly informative...

So assuming the up-the-East-River account is correct, how did Lidle (or the instructor) manage to hit the north face of the building? That seems an impossibly tight turn.

...

It's not impossibly tight if it's planned and executed properly. In fact, there's no (legal) choice but to make the turn. The VFR corridor over the East River ends at the northern tip of Roosevelt Island. At that point, you either make a U-turn or bust LGA's Class B (unless you have a clearance).

...

From AvWeb:

The corridor (and river) is roughly 2,000 feet wide, contains five bridges, Roosevelt Island, has tall buildings on both sides and often includes helicopter and sometimes seaplane traffic. Winds were reported ENE at 13, with gusts to 22. Witness reports suggest that the airplane had made a u-turn to the left from a northern heading.

It sounds like they turned downwind and couldn't complete the tight turn with the fast plane and the downwind turn.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Thursday, 12 October 2006 18:36 (nineteen years ago)

One more...

NYC's East River is about 2000' wide. So when you approach the north endpoint of the VFR corridor there, you need to make a U turn with a 1000' radius (or less if you're not right next to the eastern shore when you start the turn).

Suppose you're afraid to fly too slowly because you don't want to stall during the turn, so you cruise up the river at 90 knots. Suppose you're afraid to bank too steeply because you don't want to stall during the turn, so you use just a 30-degree bank.

Oops: your turning radius is about 1200'.

Using the East River VFR corridor requires planning the turn carefully--especially since you need to leave an extra margin in case you have to dodge high-density traffic there.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Thursday, 12 October 2006 18:37 (nineteen years ago)

What about all the mysterious fantasy-baseball trading activity just days before the crash?

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Thursday, 12 October 2006 18:53 (nineteen years ago)

You know, I was going to say there's something disconcerting about the idea that people can basically joyride small planes in areas where an accident can involve some pretty dramatic damage, but of course the death and damage caused by people being allowed to drive cars is like so far WAY beyond small-plane incidents as to make the whole thing pointless. Bad move on dude's part has severely messed with lots of folks, but in the end it's not that much worse than what a couple drunk drivers could accomplish. (Just, like, higher up.)

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:10 (nineteen years ago)

I was gonna say, that's some mighty impressive drunk driving!

― Young Fresh Danny D (Dan Perry), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:11 (nineteen years ago)

Nabisco OTM.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:12 (nineteen years ago)

Well, okay, the structural damage from this probably costs way way more than people can manage in cars, but still.

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:13 (nineteen years ago)

Ok, so maybe the equivalent of a drunk driver who hits and runs, goes home, and falls asleep in bed smoking a cigarette.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:15 (nineteen years ago)

don't y'all remember dude who plowed into that bank building in florida in a light plane a month or two post 9/11? nevar forget, indeedy.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:15 (nineteen years ago)

Haha, I was thinking more about the fact that it was what, 50 stories off of the ground?

― Young Fresh Danny D (Dan Perry), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:19 (nineteen years ago)

it was about 300-400 ft

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:20 (nineteen years ago)

I don't know why I typed "stories" when I meant "feet".

Still, that would be mad impressive drunk driving to wreak havoc 400 feet off the ground.

― Young Fresh Danny D (Dan Perry), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:28 (nineteen years ago)

what about when they fly the little planes around with the dirty bombs, huh? I guess if they have dirty bombs, they'd probably be just as fine driving around though.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:40 (nineteen years ago)

Is the term "dirty bomb" getting increasingly funny to anyone else?

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:47 (nineteen years ago)

Ha, I was just having a conversation with a friend about how funny "dirty bomb" is.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:48 (nineteen years ago)

i think i'm gonna go drop a dirty bomb myself.

― otto midnight (otto midnight), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:48 (nineteen years ago)

I keep imagining a bomb dressed up like a schoolgirl and getting spanked.

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:49 (nineteen years ago)

We came up with a game show where a contestant would be presented with a case, and inside could either be many stacks of bills, an accordion, or a dirty bomb, and they'd have to decide whether or not to open it. "Make the wrong choice, and you could contaminate our studio audience!"

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:50 (nineteen years ago)

haha ok guys

― gear (gear), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:52 (nineteen years ago)

well, it's st. louis's problem now.

― otto midnight (otto midnight), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:53 (nineteen years ago)

What I want to know is whether the plane contained any bottles of lotion.

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Friday, 13 October 2006 18:13 (nineteen years ago)

same thing, only different -- now a plane carrying a-rod had some problems, too.

creepy!

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Saturday, 14 October 2006 00:39 (nineteen years ago)

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