update

[rm]

FURTHER UPDATE: multiple news outlets are confirming it was a small, fixed-wing aircraft (so think a small Cesna or something similar). Nothing of that sort has any business being in the area around there _at all_ based on my understanding of the airspace and post-9/11 rules and regs. My knowledge on this is spotty, but probably better than the newscasters of the moment. Someone _seriously_ fucked up. Also, they were flying VFR. There had to be mechanical problems for this to make the slightest bit of sense, but they shouldn't have been anywhere near there. One supposes the radio could have gone with the rest of it.

I spoke to my mother who had spoken to my father and they and the apartment are fine at the moment. They do not seem to be evacuating the surrounding buildings, but my mother is not sure they will let her through to get home, either, as there is falling debris (albeit, not the way she needs to pass).

For those of you playing along at home, I can clarify some of what the news is telling you:

- There is not a helicopter pad on the top of that building
- There is a heliport about 12 blocks away.
- The building is very close to the river, so neither mechanical failure nor pilot error makes a scenario like this terribly surprising, IF it's a helicopter. If it's nother form of small aircraft this makes almost no sense at all.
- Whatever it was did not significanly penetrate the building, but partially crashed to the street.
- It is really doubtful this was terrorism, although people in major cities should get ready for the roar of fighter jets in the sky according to CNN
- This is directly adjacent to a hospital, which is good for the wounded, but bad in terms of people who just generally need to get to that hospital.
- Because of the wealth of the area people are home during the day and the current casualty number (2) will probably go up.

Comments

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

glad to hear your family's okay - thanks for clarifying the news.

[tommx.livejournal.com]

Very glad to hear your parents are ok. You were among the first people I thought of when I saw this.

[thextra-cookie.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the link to your updates. I am very glad that your parents are ok.

[saltbox.livejournal.com]

Also, they were flying VFR. There had to be mechanical problems for this to make the slightest bit of sense, but they shouldn't have been anywhere near there.

Part of the reason why people fly VFR (at least from my sketchy memory of representing the FAA) is that although it's harder (in the sense of not getting support from your instruments) to fly VFR, you also get a lot more flexibility on where and how you get to fly VFR. So these people could've been flying VFR on purpose to avoid the IFR requirements of having to file a flight plan with the FAA.

[gina-r-snape.livejournal.com]

I just read an update. Apparently the pilot was former Yankee pitcher Cory Lidle. FAA released a turbulance report for 1600 - 1800 feet. Since they were not on radio, they wouldn't have known and this might have been the cause of the crash.

But it doesn't answer the question regarding flying in that air space to begin with. I thought no small planes were allowed along the East River beltway. :shrugs:

Glad to hear your parents are ok.

[melebeth]

The one good thing about this building, in a way, is that it's largely populated by hospital employees. They got a special discount on the original sale and , hopefully, are more likely to be at work. I'm trying not to think about off shift nurses, and the like, and am still glad that I heard about this from my mom, because had I heard about it before talking to her I'd have been a wreck. So I speak with emphasis when saying, how glad I am your parents are ok.

[schmidtybooger.livejournal.com]

Glad the family's ok. The news on this just keeps getting weirder.

[redbird]

For the record, the hospital in question specializes in orthopedic cases. However, New York Cornell is only a couple of blocks south.

I'm startled that they allow VFR flights over Manhattan: terrorism aside, it's just an incredibly crowded airspace.

[raaven.livejournal.com]

The article I read says this:

"Since the 1980's, planes and helicopters have been allowed to fly over the East River, as well as the Hudson River, below 1,100 feet, without special permission." and this:

"The plane was registered to Mr. Lidle, who was a licensed pilot. At a news conference this afternoon, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that a flight instructor and a student pilot with 75 hours of experience were aboard and killed (...)"

So, if the student were driving, its not such a hard-to-believe circumstance, though still awful.