NEW YORK -- A small plane with New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle aboard flying crashed into a 50-story condo tower Wednesday on Manhattan's Upper East Side, killing at least two people and raining flaming debris on sidewalks, New York medical authorities said.
The Yankees' Corey Lidle
EPA/JUSTIN LANE
The most recent reports say his flight instructor was onboard with Lidle, and it is being considered a tragic accident. FAA records showed the single-engine plane was registered to Lidle, and FBI reports show that Lidle's passport was found at the scene.
The AP reports that the twin-engine plane came through a cloudy sky and hit the 20th floor of The Belaire, a red-brick tower overlooking the East River, about five miles from the World Trade Center with a loud bang, touching off a raging fire that cast a pillar of black smoke over the city and sent flames shooting from four windows on two adjoining floors.
Crowds gathered in the street in the toney New York neighborhood, with many people emotional and worried for the inhabitants.
"I was worried the building would explode, so I got out of there fast," said Lori Claymont, who fled an adjoining building in sweatpants.
Young May Cha, a 23-year-old Cornell University medical student, said she was walking back from the grocery store down 72nd Street when she saw an object out of the corner of her eye.
"I just saw something come across the sky and crash into that building," she said. Cha said there appeared to be smoke coming from behind the aircraft, and "it looked like it was flying erraticaly for the short time that I saw it."
"The explosion was very small. I was not threatened for my life," she added.
Richard Drutman, a professional photographer who lives on the 11th floor, said he was talking on the telephone when he felt the building shake.
"There was a huge explosion. I looked out my window and saw what appeared to be pieces of wings, on fire, falling from the sky," Drutman said. He and his girlfriend quickly evacuated the building.
CNN reports that the plane left New Jersey's Teterboro Airport at 2:30 p.m., about 15 minutes before the crash, according to officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport.
FAA spokeswoman Diane Spitaliere said the plane was apparently not in contact with air traffic controllers; pilots flying small planes by sight are not required to be in contact.
Mystery writer Carol Higgins Clark, daughter of author Mary Higgins Clark, lives on the 38th floor and was coming home in a cab when she saw the smoke.
"Thank goodness I wasn't at my apartment writing at the time," she said. She described the building's residents as a mix of actors, doctors, lawyers, writers and people with second homes.
All three New York City-area airports continued to operate normally, FAA spokesman Jim Peters said.
"All indications are that is an unfortunate accident," said Yolanda Clark, a spokeswoman for Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration.
The tower was built in the late 1980s and is situated near Sotheby's auction house. It has 183 apartments, many of which sell for more than $1 million.
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