Thoughts on NYC Plane Crash

[howeird]

A couple of unrelated thoughts popped up when i saw the news story about Yankee pitcher Cory Lidle's plane crashing into a high-rise apartment building in NYC.

The first one was WTF is the FAA and Homeland Insecurity doing, allowing any aircraft to fly at that altitude anywhere near Manhattan?

The second is why is everyone crying over the guy who crashed his plane, while there has not been word one about the victims whose high-priced homes have been made into toast because some sports star wanted a joy ride? Even if nobody was killed, at least three people/families are homeless, and probably a dozen more need to move out due to water and smoke damage. Idiot media once again picks the easy story to tell, and ignores the real story.

And one wonders anyway about a player who has gone through 7 teams in 9 years.
Lidle pitched with the Philadelphia Phillies before coming to the Yankees. He began his career in 1997 with the New York Mets and also pitched for Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Oakland A's, Toronto Blue Jays and Cincinnati Reds

Comments

[susandennis]

Ok, you are stealing thoughts right out of my brain.

The second is why is everyone crying over the guy who crashed his plane, while there has not been word one about the victims whose high-priced homes have been made into toast because some sports star wanted a joy ride?

I heard one newscaster on TV last night report that one of the people in the condo suffered 'only' (I swear, she said 'only') 15 degree burns.

[unseelie23.livejournal.com]

He was flying with his flight instructor, who was also killed... hardly a joyride.

Who am I supposed to mourn for, the dead people, or the rich condo owners who likely have insurance, and more importantly, are not in fact dead.?

[howeird]

hardly a joyride.
Yes, it was indeed a joyride. http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/12/plane.crash/index.html
(this may be updated by the time you click on the link)
Bloomberg reported that the plane left Teterboro Regional Airport in New Jersey about 2:30 p.m. and was on radar as it circled the Statue of Liberty and headed north up the East River. But radar lost contact, he said, when the plane reached the 59th Street Bridge.

He was making the VFR tour of Manhattan, something which is solely for pleasure.

Yeah it's rude of me to say it, but I don't mourn the winners of the Darwin awards. I do feel sorry for their innocent victims. That includes his family. Though I shudder to think of how much $$ they will be getting in life insurance.

Assuming people are rich because they own a condo in a 50-storey building in NYC is like assuming I'm rich because I spend way too much of my income on a nice townhouse in Silicon valley. It ain't necessarily so. But rich or not, they didn't wake up yesterday morning asking for someone to set fire to their homes, and it will take a while before the insurance is any help, so yeah, I feel sorry for them.

[unseelie23.livejournal.com]

He was making the VFR tour of Manhattan, something which is solely for pleasure.

He was only licensed for VFR, of course. Considering that his flight instructor was with him, despite him being legal to fly solo, it's more likely that he was working on bringing up his hours and/or instrument training. I'm not yet willing to call this a joyride, or write him off as a Darwin nomination. I personally don't see a reason to blame, or be angry at anyone just yet... especially considering that we don't know what happened.

Fair point on the rich comment, I think odds are better than even that someone with a condo in a high rise on the Upper East side in NYC is in fact 'rich', but that shouldn't marginalize their loss. Were my apartment to burn down, even with insurance, there are things that I could never replace.

[unseelie23.livejournal.com]

Since you can't edit comments, further research shows that said instructor was visiting, so yeah, it seems more likely that it was a pleasure flight.

That said, his instructor was very experienced and should have been able to assist with something like simple pilot error. Considering some of the NTSB reports I've read on the Cirrus SR20, mechanical failure is a possibility.

Joyride, to me, implies irresponsible... and I don't think there's any evidence for that just yet.

[unseelie23.livejournal.com]

Oh, and you may find some info on why aircraft are allowed to fly at that altitude near Manhatten here (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/12/AR2006101201071.html).

Personally, I'd argue that non-commercial flights shouldn't be allowed below 1,100 feet in that corridor any more.

[unseelie23.livejournal.com]

Sorry for spamming your journal Howard... just came across this on the NYT.

"Police confirmed today that the instructor was Tyler Stanger, who had traveled to New York from California to work on instrument training exercises with Mr. Lidle. "

[howeird]

Not spamming at all, it's all good info, and opinions worth hearing.

I'm not a pilot, but I've been on several instrument flights with friends and relatives who are, three of whom are based in NYC, so I'll be asking them their opinion. But from what I know already from that small experience is one doesn't train on instruments on the route these guys were flying.

Maybe "joyride" is too strong a word, if it implies recklessness. Let's just say the circumstances tell me it was a pleasure flight, for sightseeing. The circumstances as I understand them include the fact that Lidle was planning on flying to California after the playoffs, and this time of year some of that flight might require an instrument-rated pilot on board. He may very well have been taking a quick buzz around NYC en route, but that part of the flight would have been purely for the fun of it. It's more likely, since Lidle was new to NYC, that his instructor decided to give him the Grand Tour, since Lidle would have been living in NYC if he stayed with the Yankees.

[dakron.livejournal.com]

I got a few emails, and LJ entries from friends who were within site of the smoke, and they went from, is it the terrorists again, to damn I'm glad that wasn't our building.