Small Plane Crashes In New York

NTSB to Investigate

New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle was killed when the small plane on which he was flying crashed into a 50-story high-rise apartment building on Manhattan's Upper East side Wednesday afternoon, sparking a dramatic fire, and sending bits of plane and bricks crashing to the ground, city officials said. The National Transportation Safety Board has been dispatched to investigate.

Read More: Small Plane Hits High-Rise in N.Y. ( Post, Oct. 12 )

Video: Plane Crash Story ( AP, Oct. 12 )

The towering building and the smoke billowing from it recalled images of Sept. 11 for many apartment residents and observers. Terrorism, however, has been ruled out by the Transportation Security Administration. But questions remain: How could a small plane, in light of 9/11, be allowed to fly so close to a residential area? Wouldn't this be considered restricted air space? What are the flight rules?

Ross Aimer , CEO of Aviation Experts, a California-based aviation consulting firm, and 40-year veteran of the commercial airline business, was online Thursday, Oct. 12, at 1 p.m. ET to discuss Wednesday's accident.

A transcript follows.

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Ross Aimer: As usual after one of these accidents there's always some sort of panic. What I like to do is caution everyone to take time and let the technical process which is the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) do their job. They will come up with a proper answer to this unfortunate accident.

If you remember right after 9/11 the whole airline industry was shut down for several days. The result was a disaster that basically lasted five years affecting the airline industry, obviously adversely. And now I hear people talking about shutting down the general aviation (private flying) in the vicinity of major cities, for example, New York City, Manhattan area. That's basically shooting from the hip and doing something in panic. An analogy of that would be shutting down the entire freeway system in order to save lives One unfortunate accident should not cause something rash to be done.

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Washington, D.C.: Dear Mr. Aimer:

Let's get the easy stuff out of the way first. There is a corridor up the Hudson River along Manhattan Island where you can fly on visual flight rules (no instruments or clearance from traffic control required) if you're below 1100 feet; the flight, which I've made several times, is scenically stunning. I assume there's a similar corridor up the East River as well, although I never used it.

The hard parts seem to me to be what trajectory the plane took, what the pilot's intentions were, and what went wrong up to the moment that the plane hit the building. Was it blown into it by the strong easterly wind? Did the pilots have control of the plane when it hit? Do you have any light to shed on those questions?

Ross Aimer: Obviously that's another thing that will be determined in the investigation by the NTSB.

The effect of the wind that was prevailing yesterday could be one of the causes of this accident; we don't know that yet. There was a possibility of another traffic in the vicinity of this aircraft that could have possibly caused the TCAS (traffic collision avoidance system) which alerts the pilots of the two aircraft that are in a collision course to make an evasive maneuver. This could have been one of the reasons that this aircraft made this evasive turn and perhaps blown into the building.

I agree with you that the corridor along the East River is a necessity for GA (general aviation) flying and that should be preserved.

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Raleigh, N.C.: Ross,

Cirrus aircraft are outfitted with airframe parachute system, which is designed to safely bring a malfunctioning or damaged aircraft back to the ground. Why, in your opinion, was this system not utilized in this tragic event?

Ross Aimer: The ballistic parachute system in this aircraft is designed to use in the ultimate dangerous situation. Again, it's very hard to understand what the pilot and flight instructor in the aircraft were facing at that moment and psychologically it's very hard to put ourselves in their shoes and to understand why they basically didn't pull the "rip chord."

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Washington, D.C.: This crash seems weird from the facts they presented. It is said his flight path was from south to north up the East River. Yet the plane crashed into the north side of the building. They would have had to make a 180 to hit the building which seems weird considering their route. Any thoughts?

Ross Aimer: Yes, the east corridor of this particular corridor is like a cul de sac. The pilot of this aircraft would have had to make a turn at some point, basically at the end of this cul de sac. Now again, was we mentioned in the previous question, there may have been reasons he was going to make that turn or the TCAS may have given the pilot an RA (a command advisory to pull out of the danger zone) ... that may have been the reason why they made the turn. Or finally, there may have been a problem with the aircraft itself that caused this dangerous turn.

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San Rafael, Calif.: What was the visibility and cloud cover at the time of the crash?

Ross Aimer: I believe it was reported to be a ceiling of 1,800 feet but visibility was good at eight miles which is legal for the type of flying they were doing.

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Rockville, Md.: I am no pilot, but to me it looks like a turn that was interrupted by the building, perhaps caused by an altitude problem. What it does remind me of is the Kennedy crash which seems to be a turn that got out of control. Or is it different?

Ross Aimer: It is possible.

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Anchorage, Ark.: I have heard that there are numerous rules and restrictions to the airspace in and around Manhattan, and I can imagine that it is quite busy, too. Could you paraphrase those, and given his close proximity to the river, is there any indication why he was over the island, rather than attempting to ditch in the water?

Ross Aimer: Yes, there's definitely a lot of restrictions in that area, a lot of traffic. There's commercial above them going into LaGuardia or Kennedy and all around there is VFR (Visual Flight Rules) traffic in the vicinity. There are many news helicopters that fly routinely in that area plus sightseeing pleasure traffic which was what Mr. Lidle was engaging in.

Obviously the first place, in the case of an emergency, would be to ditch in the water. Now again, I'm not sure why they chose to be over the island. Perhaps there was something else causing this decision.

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Richmond, Va. : I suspect the following question will be repeated over and over in one form or another. With billions spent on homeland security, what is lacking (not just in New York but any where) that allows a little plane to get through the middle of the city? It could have been carrying a bomb instead of the Yankee pitcher and his instructor. Everyone I know is disgusted at the propaganda put out by the homeland security people that we are safe from attacks by airplanes.

Ross Aimer: You are right in that there is a lot of propaganda on the part of TSA. On the other hand, as I mentioned in my opening comment, we cannot shut down commerce, aviation and everything else because of the possibility of a terrorist act.

The pilot was not flying, in fact, in any restricted area. However, he may have ended up in an obviously restricted area which was the building as a result of something that will be determined at a later date.

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Ventura, Calif.: I have heard it was cloudy. Assuming visibility was sufficient to fly VFR, why do you think the pilots didn't see the buildings, knowing their heading, and probably even having GPS, and ditch in the river? Don't understand this with two qualified pilots on board.

Ross Aimer: Although the visibility and ceiling were okay for this particular type of flight, anyone who's been in a low-ceiling condition will realize that there are times where a sudden rain shower or a small area of low clouds which we call SCUD may restrict visibility. In other words, there's a good possibility that they might have gone into a small storm cloud which obviously restricts the visibility and they just didn't see the building.

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Pittsburgh, Pa.: Shouldn't laws or rules be changed to require "black" boxes on ALL planes? Not that it would've saved lives in this instance, but perhaps it could've yielded clues to help prevent future such accidents.

Ross Aimer: Yes, but at times that will become basically impractical to put black boxes in every small airplane. It become so cost-prohibitive that certain things cannot be done in general aviation aircraft. That's why the FAA has this weight limitation on which aircraft must have black boxes and which ones may not have them.

This particular plane was not required to have black boxes.

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Silver Spring, Md.: Does the Cirrus SR20 have TCAS? And can the ballistic parachute be deployed when the aircraft is at cruising speed or below 1000 feet?

Ross Aimer: Yes. Yes.

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Ross Aimer: TCAS (Traffic Collision and Avoidance System) is available in SR20 and I believe this aircraft had one. It's a gadget that is controlled through a series of transponder codes and devices and it gives the pilot a way to detect intruding traffic and make evasive maneuver. It beeps and actually gives visual and verbal commands to avoid collision.

The chute is operable at any altitude an any air speed in that aircraft.

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Chevy Chase, Washington, D.C.: Without a "black box" or taped communications between the pilot and ground control and with the plane completely destroyed what evidence will you use to make an assessment?

Ross Aimer: Number one, fortunately the engine was found in one of the apartments from what I understand so NTSB will look immediately into the condition at the time of impact. They have technology into finding out if that engine was putting out power, was okay, had any malfunctions. That's one of the things they have available. Even from a small fragment of the fuselage of the aircraft the scientists and metallurgist will be able to retract a wealth of information from the aircraft. Also, the radar tracing of the aircraft's flight path is available at ATC (Air Traffic Control). That will give them quite a bit of information.

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Arlington, Va.: I've heard some witnesses say they heard a "cough, cough, cough" kind of sound coming from the plane before it hit; others said it sounded like a truck gearing down. Do these sounds bring anything to your mind about some kind of malfunction that might have been occurring before impact?

Ross Aimer: It is a possibility. Cough, cough, cough is usually an engine problem or a fuel system problem and that could've caused the accident. That's why, in previous questions and answers here, there is a possibility of either a mechanical problem or that he was trying to avoid another aircraft.

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PHL: Mr. Aimer: Thank you for taking a reasonable approach to these questions. Too much of the public is misinformed. Thank you for continually deferring unanswerable questions until the NTSB investigation is complete.

Ross Aimer: Thank you very much. I try not to jump to any conclusions without having all the facts.

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Bethesda, Md.: I hate to sound cold and non-caring, but it seems to me, that unless you are a full time professional pilot, you really shouldn't be allowed to pilot an airplane. Surely the standards to get a license must be slack given the untimely demise of John Denver JFK Jr., and now Cory Lidle. Should more training be required?

Ross Aimer: There's always room for more training; however, if I may equate this to your first driving lessons or when we are licensed to drive at age 16, you eventually have to let that youngster learn by themselves. And yes, there are some possibilities of accidents because of the low experience of driving for the youngsters. You can't just keep them at home and not let them enjoy the pleasures and freedom of driving. The same with goes with aviation.

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Dayton, Ohio: Who was the second pilot? Without knowing, how can they rule out foul play?

Ross Aimer: We don't know who the instructor was but there was a flight instructor from Teterboro (TEB). NTSB will not rule out anything at this moment.

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Los Angeles, Calif.: Do we know how much time and experience the instructor had in this type of aircraft?

Ross Aimer: No, we don't but there are some minimum FAA requirements before one is allowed to become an instructor and therefore I suspect this instructor was pretty well qualified.

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Chevy Chase, Washington, D.C.: Mayor Bloomberg kept referring to an "instructor and a student pilot"....Lidle had his license. He wasn't a student was he?

Ross Aimer: Lidle only had his private pilot license which is a very basic license to fly but in order to, for example, get his instrument license he would have had to receive more instruction and I actually applaud him for having an instructor with him.

This particular aircraft is a high performance, rather sophisticated aircraft for a low-time pilot, so for Cory to insist on having an instructor with him ... that was a very good decision. Unfortunately, with having two sets of eyes and experience in the cockpit ... whatever caused the accident ... did not help him and perhaps he was receiving some sort of instruction but we don't know that.

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Gaithersburg, Md: I hold a commercial pilot's certificate, and I fly from under the DC ADIZ. Would you care to comment on why politicians and the TSA perpetuate the fantasy that creating restricted airspace would prevent a terrorist using a small plane? Or comment on the extremely limited amount of damage caused by this incident?

Ross Aimer: I agree wholeheartedly that more restrictions will not prevent future occurrences and we just have to use more technology and security rather than restrictions and limitations.

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Silver Spring, Md.: I have also flown the Hudson River corridor, but will not fly the East River specifically because of that tight turn at the top of the corridor. (I am a flight instructor w/ about 1200 hours of flight time).

One person on a local message board here noted the winds, which were fairly strong - 15 mph., out of the east. If Mr. Lidle was attempting to make a left 180 (standard, since you usually fly up the right side of the river), what would the radius of that turn be at the typical, or even slow cruise speed of an SR-20? From the charts, it looks like the width of the East River there is just a shade under a mile. In other words, at a reasonable bank angle, with that wind pushing them farther towards Manhattan during the turn, could they have made the turn "in time" to not hit anything?

Ross Aimer: Yes, they could've. A mile is plenty of distance to complete that maneuver. However, as I had mentioned earlier, I agree with you that that type turn would not be very comfortable.

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Ross Aimer: I would like to thank the participants and apologize to the ones we didn't get to and also indicate that I was trying to be very brief and not get too technical and obviously not too say that I knew all the answers because we don't know all of the facts about this thing. And I would rather say I don't know than pretend to know all the answers.

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