NEW YORK -- A small plane carrying New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle and a flight instructor spun out of control on a blustery afternoon yesterday and slammed into the side of a 50-story condominium building on Manhattan's Upper East Side, killing both people on board.
The airplane exploded into a fireball as it hit the building around the 30th floor, sparks and pieces of the wing and the plane's door raining down on the sidewalk below. The fire that raged afterward incinerated two apartments, although, remarkably, city officials reported no fatalities inside the luxury Belaire Condos on East 72nd Street, where apartments feature views of the East River and command $2 million and up.
The crash and fire and clouds of black smoke billowing from a high-rise tower evoked memories of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks for New Yorkers. Many stood on the streets listening to radios, watching television sets in corner grocery stores and anxiously asking strangers for information. The East Side of Manhattan all but came to a standstill, as police cordoned off York and First avenues, two vast thoroughfares, and fire engines screamed across town.
North American Aerospace Defense Command fighter aircraft were scrambled minutes after the crash, and fighters and support aircraft remained airborne for hours over U.S. and Canadian cities. But city and federal officials concluded the crash had no connection to terrorism.
"There is nothing to suggest anything remotely like terrorism was involved," Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a news conference late in the afternoon. "We are just very lucky that it was not more than two people, although our prayers go out to them."
Sana Monayair, a mother of four, described standing on her 37th-floor balcony across 72nd Street about 2:40 p.m. She watched as the four-seat, single-engine Cirrus SR20 plane strayed inland from the East River, climbing briefly upward before lurching down into the building's cliff wall.
"I saw the plane fly directly into the building," Ms. Monayair said. "There was a big explosion. It was very scary, the bricks falling and people screaming."
Not far from her terrace, dozens of hard-hat workers stood along the metal skeleton of a high-rise under construction, screaming as the plane swooped over their heads. Inside the Belaire, where tall windows offer sweeping panoramas of the Queens waterfront, Patti Charles, a housekeeper on the 32nd floor, said the "place just lit up -- it shook the building, and I ran."
"We sort of felt that it was 9/11 happening all over again," said Sara Cohen, 32, a nurse who was walking down York Avenue when she heard the concussion and saw the fireball. "I was terrified."
Robert Roth, a freelance writer, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that emergency personnel had cordoned off the area surrounding the building.
"There is not the slightest sign of panic in the streets," Mr. Roth said, as a heavy rain doused the area. "There are very few citizens around."
Mr. Lidle, 34, was an experienced pitcher who had played for both New York baseball teams. He arrived in the major leagues in 1997 with the Mets and pitched the latter part of this season with the Yankees. He had acquired his pilot's license within the past year; it is not known whether Mr. Lidle or the unidentified instructor was at the controls of the airplane at the time of the accident.
Yankees management, including owner George Steinbrenner, confirmed that Mr. Lidle died in the crash. Mr. Lidle's passport was found on the street below, along with two bodies, authorities report.
Mr. Lidle had a wife, Melanie, and a 6-year-old son, Christopher; they live in California.
The crash also summoned memories of the death of Thurman Munson, a star Yankees catcher who died in August 1979 when a jet he was piloting struck a tree during takeoff at an airport in Ohio.
Rick Peterson, the Mets' pitching coach, worked with Mr. Lidle when they were with the Oakland Athletics in 2000 and 2001. He remembered a husky kid who relished pitching under pressure.
"He was a very hard worker, very competitive," Mr. Peterson told reporters out at Shea Stadium. "I have no words; I just have very strong emotions."
Cirrus targets a wealthy male audience of nonprofessional pilots, a market largely abandoned by other manufacturers.
"People are using them like a car," Cirrus spokeswoman Kate Dougherty said. "They have become very efficient business tools and also have the ability to give people an entirely different lifestyle, especially now that families are so spread out."
Cirrus aircraft are the only planes currently manufactured with parachutes as standard equipment. According to Cirrus, the parachutes have been deployed nine times and have saved 21 lives.
The plane carrying Mr. Lidle took off at 2:29 p.m. from Teterboro Airport in northern New Jersey, where many small planes and corporate jets are housed. The plane flew south into New York Harbor and around the Statue of Liberty, then up the East River, officials said.
Federal Aviation Administration officials said the crash occurred at 2:45 p.m. near a corridor above the East River where helicopters and small planes can fly under 1,100 feet and are not required to remain in touch with air traffic controllers. The corridor runs up the river, over the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg and 59th Street bridges that necklace the river. It is commonly used by sightseeing helicopters under "visual flight rules," which means pilots under 1,000 feet must steer clear of other airplanes and helicopters as well as buildings.
Air traffic controllers are examining radar tapes to see if the plane can be spotted, and a six-member team of national safety investigators was en route to the scene. The plane emitted a distress signal just before striking the building, city officials said.
"We can't exactly tell what the route was after it came up the East River and why it turned onto 72nd Street," Mr. Bloomberg said.
Charles Krupa, Associated PressPitcher Cory Lidle is not the first Yankee player to die in a plane crash. In 1979, catcher Thurman Munson died in a plane crash in Ohio.
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First Published: October 12, 2006, 4:00 a.m.
