Breaking News: Helicopter Crash
Holy crap! At about 2:45 pm, a small plane or helicopter (they still aren’t sure) crashed into an apartment building on the Upper East Side. Details are sketchy right now but here is some info as it pours in:
- A helicopter was seen flying at a low height and was weaving in and out of the buildings before the crash
- Residents say that area is highly trafficked by low flying helicopters and planes
- The building is The Belaire at 542 East 72nd at York Street on the UES
- The crash was somewhere around the 30th floor of the building, which is about 50 floors high
- At least 4 apartments engulfed in flames
- So far 2 people confirmed dead
- The building is currently being evacuated
- York Ave from about 60th Street all the way up to 80th Street is closed
- Homeland Security is on the scene and investigating
- Air traffic in the city is still running as normal
3:50 PM UPDATE
- At least one of the people found dead was on the aircraft, as the body was found strapped into the seat
- Luggage and pieces of the aircraft (including pieces of wings, fusilage, and the entire undercarriage) crashed down and are on the street
- They are pretty sure at this point that it was a fixed wing plane–the estimation is that the wings came off at impact and most people looked up and saw the plane with no wings and assumed it was a helicopter, but that is still speculation at this point
- A few people claim to have seen the plane doing “tricks” before the impact, which makes people speculate that this was not intentional
5:00 PM UPDATE
More info pouring in–there are some more updated posts about this on the site, but I thought I would put it here since this post has been linked to on other sites
- It was confirmed that Yankee pitcher Cory Lidle was the owner and operator of the plane
- There is some confusion as to whether Lidle was on the plan alone or if there were 3 other passengers on board
- The FBI found Lidle’s passport in the street under the building
- Lidle has been reported dead
- The plane was a Cirrus SR-20
- As many as four people might be dead
7:00 PM UPDATE
- The NYTimes reports that Bloomberg said a flight instructor and a student pilot with 75 hours of experience were aboard and killed but would not confirm that Lidle was on of them as the families victims have not yet been notified
- No bodies have been found in the building yet
- 11 firefighters have been injured so far
- The plane left Teterboro Airport in NJ at 2:30 pm, circled the Statue of Liberty and then headed up the East River
- The plane lost touch with air traffic controllers as radar showed it flew never the 59th Street bridge
- The crash was reported at 2:42 pm
- The plane struck around the 40th or 41st floor
More info in the NYTimes article
Related posts:
Plane was registered to Cory Lidle, new pitcher for the Yankees. Man, and I thought I was depressed about the postseason.
some chanels are now reporting Lidle is dead, fbi found his passport in the street under the building. aparently there were 3 other people on board the plane.
If this is how it happened, somebody showboating their skills in between the buildings, I guess FAA won’t have to pull his license-God took care of it.
Really STUPID.
Wow George, way to jump to conclusions and speak ill of the dead. Very compassionate indeed, coming from a person who invokes God. Why don’t you go and read your bible, the entire book, and start doing as the Lord advised.
“The crash was somewhere around the 30th floor of the building, which is about 50 floors high.”
How the hell is the 30th floor 50 floors high? That doesn’t make a damn bit of sense.
Meaning the building is about 50 floors high and the crash occurred around the 30th floor (actually the 40th if you read the update later on). Sorry if the wording confused you.
that totally cracked me up :D