Small Aircraft Hits Building on 72nd and York in NYC

[Young Val]

On the street i happen to work on. I can see the smoke out the window.


That is not the worst part. One of my best friends from childhood lives in that building.

and he hasn't picked up his phone yet.

[primevere]

that pretty insane. what ever posses people to do things like that. I duno it blows my mind.. but hopefully you get a hold of your friend soon i can't possibly imagine what your going thru.

[mr_thebrain]

keep us posted on your friend and good luck!

[Young Val]

they're saying it's not terrorist related. simply an accident.


still no word from Chris.

[primevere]

keep trying to get a hold of him thats pretty much the best you can do until more information is given out.

I dont see why an aircraft would be flying so low. But hopefully it was only accidental.

[mr_thebrain]

from the pictures on yahoo, it looks like it was a pretty small plane. it says that it's doubtful it's terrorism.

if your friend doesn't answer the phone, that doesn't mean much, they evacuated the building for one. if it's a cell, then yoru friend might have left it behind. or if they aren't at home, they might be busy trying to find somewhere to live...

[anonshadow]

that pretty insane. what ever posses people to do things like that. I duno it blows my mind.. but hopefully you get a hold of your friend soon i can't possibly imagine what your going thru.

I don't think it was terrorist-related, although some news stations are jumping to that conclusion. It was likely a helicopter crash or something like that, not an intentional attack. It seems too damned small-scale to be a terrorist attack...

And Kelly, I hope you get a hold of your friend... *HUGS*

[primevere]

I don't think it was terrorist-related, although some news stations are jumping to that conclusion.

it could also be a new pilot who isn't too confident in city flying and misjudged the height... ive known many pilots who have done the same... but lets hope that it isnt terrorist related.

[Hegemon]

I am not sure how things changed if it was an accident or a terrorist attack... Same number of people will die.

And I am assuming that the pilots you know who misjudged the heights of buildings actually avoided hitting them?

[primevere]

it was more like fun flying in the river bottom and there was a telephone wire pole... he just missed it by 6 inches. im not proud of him for it

[anonshadow]

And I am assuming that the pilots you know who misjudged the heights of buildings actually avoided hitting them?

*giggles*

In regards to whether it is terrorist-related: yeah, I'm with John. I don't think it makes any immediate difference if it is terrorist-related. Terrorists being involved will not cause a dozen more people to drop dead on the spot. The only difference I see is if it is one of several attacks planned today, and, again, I really don't think that terrorists would go after an apartment building when they could go after, for example, a subway.

People are dead. Dead is dead. Intentions don't mean s*** right now, because people? Are dead.

[Young Val]

personally, i, at this point in time, don't give a f*** if it was an accident or a terrorist or what. it's horrible either way.

but it DOES put the entire city in 9/11 mode. again, i'm on 72nd street right now, and it's insane. and terrifying.

4 dead.

[primevere]

i agree with young val. doesnt really matter whether or not it is or isnt its the impact it has on the community.

[Dr. Mobius]

I really don't think that terrorists would go after an apartment building when they could go after, for example, a subway.

Subways are a little harder to hit with an airplane.

[Young Val]

he's ok. my friend is ok. oh my god. he's ok.

[primevere]

thats great! i hope all works out well for him.

[anonshadow]

I really don't think that terrorists would go after an apartment building when they could go after, for example, a subway.

Subways are a little harder to hit with an airplane.

No, they're not. Not the subways that run above ground, which almost all subway lines in NYC do for at least some amount of time. The 7 is almost completely about ground. If you flew a plane into a subway or subway tracks of the 7 or one of the number trains up in the Bronx during rush hour, you could kill a huge amount of people.

Edit: Incidentally, that's why the Herald Square thing a year or two ago was such a big deal. I know that if terrorists starting bombing subways, I would be terrified to leave my house.

[anonshadow]

he's ok. my friend is ok. oh my god. he's ok.

*hug* I'm glad. *HUG*

He answered his phone?

[Young Val]

i heard it through the grapevine, but (obviously) EVERYONE is calling him. his sister started making calls to all of us to let us know she spoke to him and he's ok.

[anonshadow]

Oh, good. That was incredibly smart of her--I'm not sure I would think of it in that kind of situation...

[Hegemon]

Well.... hittng the tracks would like mean that all trains would be told to stop running... So not all that bad, but damn inconvenient...

As for hitting a train itself... that isn't going to happen. Firstly it is probably hard to aim for a low target and even if you can, hitting a moving one is also pretty rough...

On another note, during 9/11 some people thought that my cousin might be dead because he sometimes worked in the WTC. When the planes hit and all the phonelines got jammed, he used his blackberry to contact a friend in Canada and then asked that friend to contact his parents.

[anonshadow]

A low target?? The trains that run above ground are about at high as a lot of buildings. Some of the bridges would also really cause s***...

[Hegemon]

Well, definitely not a terrorist attack.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/11/plane.crash/index.html

Turns out it was Yankee Pitcher, Cory Lidle who crashed into the building.

Edit: I edited it once before and then it screwed up the sentence structure. Just fixing it now.

[vendor]

I was told by a co-worker that on espn they said a NYYankee was flying the airplane.

[the HiveQueen]

I thought they didn't know whether or not he was flying the plane?

[hive_king]

The sad part is that the other four people are going to be forgotten, and everyone is going to remember the tragic death of "the baseball star with so much potential".

I don't think how much potential he did or did not have even mattered. It seems to me that when a young sport star dies, his potential increases exponentially.

[ratesjul]

Or, as someone at work put it ... 13+ people died in flooding in Myanmar and Thailand. 5+ people died in a head on train smash in northern France. 4 people died when a Yankees pitcher crashed his plane into a building in NYC.

Which one got the most news coverage?

And if it hadn't been a big name on that plane, in a year's time how many people would remember it?

[Dr. Mobius]

I really don't think that terrorists would go after an apartment building when they could go after, for example, a subway.

Subways are a little harder to hit with an airplane.

No, they're not. Not the subways that run above ground, which almost all subway lines in NYC do for at least some amount of time. The 7 is almost completely about ground.

If the tracks are above ground, then it is by definition not a subway.

[anonshadow]

Not in NYC.

http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/nyct/maps/submap.htm

This is called a subway map.

And it has subways on it.

What, because the G goes about ground for one station, or the J goes across the Williamsburg bridge, they're not subways?

Oh, please.

In our city, the 1234567ABCDEFGJLMNQRSVZ are all subways.

This is what we call them.

[Dr. Mobius]

This is what we call them.

Exactly my point. You can call them whatever the hell you want, but by definition, line 7 and any other line that spends the majority of its time above ground would not be subways, while the ones that are below ground are subways.

In any case, this argument is not only off-topic but moot as well. You stated that subways more likely terrorist targets than apartment buildings. Then I, lacking the intimate knowledge of the New York transporation system you possess, took the word at face value and assumed these subways would be underground and thus quite hard to get to with a large airborne object. I now realize the error of my assumption.

[ratesjul]

*points out that the destruction of the World Trade Center also closed subway lines*