Is anyone on the Eastside? NYC? Plane crash?
 

I hope everyone is ok..

71st & York

It is actually a helicopter that crashed into an apartment building at 71st and York. 10 blocks from my apartment. Haven't heard any further details.

OK , 20th floor, apt bldg on York & E 72nd..

either a small airplane or a helicopter hit.

NYC Fire Dept says that people are trapped in the building, but they seem to be getting the fire put out, they are saying it is in No Way terrorism related.

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524 E. 72nd.

The FAA is saying it was a Fixed Wing 4 passenger plane.

It was an aircraft "in distress" - no details - that hit the 39th floor of this luxury condo building.

Fire department has debris fire on the ground under control and is working on the couple of apartments which are on fire (39/40th floors).

No further info on the type or problem with aircraft.

But the fire doesn;t seem to be large enough to affect the stability of the building - which would be a major problem - since t is across the street from the New York Hospital/Cornell/ Special Surgery/Sloan Kettering Hospital complex.

I'm on 50th and I can hear the fire engines! Was scary when we all saw that "Breaking News" email alert from WNBC and CNN!!

A few blocks away, lots of sirens continue by, hard to tell if smoke present due to overcast conditions((?))

Just walked in the door from the West side of 72nd street. Heard talk on the train about a plane crash. Just an awful feeling.

Thoughts and prayers to those affected. :(

Cirrus 20 airplane out of Teterboro ... at least 4 people dead ... I heard the explosion ... NOT terrorism ... the Belleaire is a nice, family, residential high-rise in a very residential area of the UES ... tragic accident ...

This is the building that contains the Belaire Guest Suites that is connected to the Hospital for Special Surgery and NY Presbyterian Hospital.

I stayed in this building during my visit to NYC back in late July during my nephew's surgery.

My brother, sister-in-law and nephew were there last week for my nephew's first check-up after the surgery. The surgeons office is on E. 72nd Street. All that debris probably fell onto the street right in front of his office. There is a little park there with a dozen trees that is probably a war zone right now.

Keith

The plane was being flown by NY Yankees pitcher Corey Lidle. Reports are that there was an emergency call before the crash that it was low on fuel. Lidle has been confirmed dead in the crash.

Hoping damage and injuries are minimal.((U))

Apparently (per one of the local news anchors who is a long-experiencd pilot) he was a fairly novice pilot and the plane - while very safe - was also very fast and not the easiest plane to fly. He intimated it was not a plane he would recommend for a novice pilot - sort of like giving a 16 year old a Porsche.

One eyewitness says the plane was "coughing" and seemed out of control - which could have indicated lack of fuel - or be the result of stalling out as the result of making a 180 turn too quickly.

A representative of the hospital said they have no problems.

And it appears that the number of dead is now listed as only 2 - including the pilot. But - obviously this is still unknown.

So sad for the pilot and the other victim. But so lucky that it happened when the building was not full - and that block is very quiet in terms of stret traffic - since it only goes down to the FDR.

There were sirens from all the way in downtown Battery Park, where my office is. Just hearing it made all of us freeze. Glad it wasn't terrorist related.

But so sad to hear another tragedy, this time a real & tragic one, befall the Yankees.

Front page of AOL is saying at least 4 have been confirmed killed including two on the ground.

Oh my heart is going out to everyone in NY...I don't think you all can take anymore like this. None of us can!

I was at the gym when I heard the first reports. Some were saying that he was doing some "trick" flying but maybe it just looked that way because he was having trouble.

Fingers crossed for all involved!

The Mayor's new conference confirmed 2 dead (on the ground). He would not confirm names of victims until next of kin are notified. There was a flight instructor with a student who clocked 75 hours on board - no indication who was in control.

So much bad information out there. On CNN they just corrected the previous announcement that there were 4 dead to only 2 dead. I listened to Mayor Blumberg's press conference and he mentioned two people from a "damaged" apartment that he had spoken to. He said the people he talked with were a man and a woman. A few minutes later one of the reporters was saying "well, obviously one of the victims was a woman". When the other reporter asked how he knew that, he said the mayor said it was a man and a woman. Huh? Do reporters even listen to what is being said?

I wonder if they listen too.

I was upset to see a blazing building on CBS at 4pm, when I came home, only to realize that it was footage taken immediately after the crash. I think it's irresponsible that they don't label the footage "earlier" or something of that nature so that people know it's not the current condition. I switched channels after that.

Not to make light of a tragic situation but NeoPatrick is right the "Talking Heads" on CNN have been making speculative comments all afternoon and it's pretty obvious they don't really have any idea what they are saying.

Sometimes it is hard to stretch 15 minutes of news into hours but CNN manages to do it.

NeoPatrick????? Please don't tell me they banned you again!

I work in a stock trading office so we keep a TV on to get important market news. When this story broke we turned up the volume and froze in horror, thinking this was yet another attack on NY. There was some relief when we learned it wasn't a terrorist attack, but still my heart goes out to all New Yorkers. This must have been an awful reminder of 9/11. I can only imagine what those brave firefighters were thinking as they raced up the stairs in that burning building. God bless them all.

I ((L)) NY.

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Do reporters even listen to what is being said?
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couldn't possibly be worse than the way BBC was reporting it. they were interviewing estate agents that had nothing to do with it and people from blocks away who "heard noises". they just relied on the poor choice of people that they were being interviewed. it was pathetic.

It's the one thing I dislike about news channels/programs here in the US.

Scare tactics and the need to fill airtime by asking scary or useless questions.

I'll wait until tomorrow - when a guy who works for the same company as my husband and whose parents own an apartment in the building reports back - until I listen to the news programs then I can get the story from 2 sides.

Luckily their apartment was empty.

Thoughts to the families of the people who died.

I was at Lexington and 70th Street when I heard all these firetruck sirens yesterday. Walked over to Madison to grab some lunch with an old friend at Gardenia and the Greek lady at the cash register was saying, in Greek, "Yada yada yada 72nd and 3rd Ave." She kept yelling it to all the guys in the kitchen. It wasn't until later that I realized what had happened when I started talking to a lady outside Bloomingdale's. Luckily, it started to POUR RAIN around 3:30. I hope all that rain helped lessen the fire.

In a strange but true twist, the owner of the apartment that was struck by the plane on Wednesday is the same woman who was injured by the Cat in the Hat balloon during the Thanksgiving Day parade in 1997. She was in a coma for a month after the balloon incident and used her settlement money to buy the apartment. CRAZY!