Small Plane Strikes New York High-Rise

A small airplane carrying New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle and his flight instructor slammed into a luxury high-rise on Manhattan’s Upper East Side on Wednesday afternoon, exploding in a fireball that killed both men and engulfed two floors of the building.

Authorities termed the 2:42 p.m. crash an accident, but it evoked emotional reactions from New Yorkers who vividly recall the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center a little more than five years ago.

President Bush was alerted to the crash, and Air Force jets were scrambled over several cities as a precaution.

Residents of the 42-story, red-brick building were quickly evacuated, streaming down the stairwells into a crowd of fire and emergency crews trained for fast response after Sept. 11.

The impact at the 30th and 31st floors rained flaming debris down the north side of the Belaire building, at 72nd Street and York Avenue, overlooking the East River. The building is just down the block from Sotheby’s, the famous auction house.

The bodies of both victims were found on the street, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said at a news conference. CNN, citing an FBI official, reported that Lidle’s passport also was found on the street.

Eleven firefighters were treated for minor injuries. Two people escaped unharmed despite being inside a residential unit that was penetrated by parts of the aircraft. The two were “a little bit shaken,” Bloomberg told reporters. “They were sitting there and they heard a noise, glass breaking, and they ran out the door and into the hall.” He said the plane’s engine was later found in one of the residences.

Lidle, 34, of West Covina, had earned his pilot’s license less than a year ago. It was not clear whether he or the instructor, whose identity was not released, was at the controls. Lidle owned the plane, which was identified as a Cirrus SR20, a single-engine four-seat aircraft made of lightweight composite materials.

The plane is noteworthy for what its manufacturer, Cirrus Design Corp. of Duluth, Minn., calls “a final level of defense” -- a parachute for the entire plane. It is not known whether any attempt was made to deploy the parachute before the crash.

Newsday reported that the SR20 had been involved in 20 accidents, accounting for at least 15 deaths, in the last seven years.

Bloomberg did not identify either of the passengers during his news conference, but he said the student pilot -- presumably Lidle -- had about 75 hours of flying time.

The two had taken off at 2:29 p.m. from Teterboro Airport, about 12 miles away in New Jersey, and had circled the Statue of Liberty before turning north up the East River, Bloomberg said. The weather was threatening but did not give way to rain until after the crash.

Federal Aviation Administration officials said the pilot didn’t need to radio air traffic controllers in New York because Visual Flight Rules, under which he was flying, don’t require such contact. Bloomberg said private aircraft were allowed to fly over the rivers but had to seek permission before crossing into Manhattan airspace.

A witness, identified as Zenel Perezic, told CNN that the airplane seemed to be in distress moments before the crash.

Joanne Hartlaub was on a stationary bike in the gym in the building opposite the Belaire when she saw something falling; it looked like metal, she said.

“I didn’t see wings. I just saw a big engine.” At that moment, she said, “I was insane with fear that we were being attacked.”

She saw the plane “smash into the side of the building and blow out all the windows. Then all sorts of debris was falling down on the street.” She looked down and saw that the fuel had splashed on the street and ignited. “There was fire all over the ground within seconds.”

Three hours later, Hartlaub said, she was still shaking. “I’ve been shaking all day.”

She was near the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, she said, and saw the first plane fly into one of the towers.

Former Bloomingdale’s Chairman Marvin Traub and his wife, Lee, have lived on the top floor of the Belaire since the building went up in the early 1990s. He said he was at the office of his Manhattan consulting business when friends alerted him to the crash about 3 p.m.

“Mrs. Traub was in the building.... After she walked down, she knew I’d be concerned, so she called me,” he said.

Elias Taveras, 13, was in his science class three blocks away when smoke started blowing in the windows. It felt as close, he said, “as if the fire was actually in our school.”

His classmates had a variety of responses, he said. “Some people got nervous, some people got excited.”

Although most of the students dispersed, Elias wandered to the scene to take a look. “I was like, oh my God, it’s like what happened at the world trade tower.”

Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, was at the scene. He said the initial reports had been chilling. “Every time you hear about an aircraft crashing into a building, [terrorism] is something you think about,” he said.

Along the streets, in the minutes after the crash, people looked dazed, anxious and hurried. Many talked on cellphones, glancing over their shoulder at the plume of smoke while they described it. A few people ran down the sidewalk. One woman, several blocks south of the fire, was weeping while she tried to reach someone on her cellphone. Mothers pulled children along, and children looked worried. Approaching the scene, the smell was acrid and artificial. Half a dozen helicopters hovered in the air above the building.

A young woman in a pale blue trench coat was trying to force her way past a police officer, who was holding her back. She was crying and saying, “What can I do? My baby is there!” A neighbor reassured her that everyone on that floor had escaped the building, and the young woman suddenly fell silent, relief apparent on her face.

Department of Homeland Security officials learned of the crash about 2:50 p.m., and Secretary Michael Chertoff spoke with New York Gov. George E. Pataki minutes later to convey that the department had no information that suggested a credible threat, spokesman Russ Knocke said.

“At this time there’s no indication of a terror nexus; all indications are this is a truly unfortunate accident,” Knocke said.

The department had no plans to change the color-coded national terrorism alert level.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Northern Command, the military headquarters responsible for U.S. territory, said the Air Force scrambled fighters over several major American cities after the crash as a precaution. For security reasons the military did not disclose the number of jets deployed or which cities they flew to.

“While every indication is this is an accident, we see this as a prudent measure,” said Navy Chief Petty Officer Susan Hammond, adding that the plane was never a “flight of interest” to officials tracking potential terrorist threats.

Lidle, a pitcher who played for several major league teams before joining the Yankees in late July, pitched his last game Saturday, when the Detroit Tigers eliminated New York from the American League playoffs.

One of his Yankees teammates, Jason Giambi, also played with Lidle at South Hills High School in West Covina. “Right now, I am really in a state of shock,” Giambi said in a statement. “My thoughts are with Cory’s relatives and the loved ones” of the other victim. “I have known Cory and his wife, Melanie, for over 18 years and watched his son grow up. We ... have remained close throughout our careers. We were excited to be reunited in New York this year, and I am just devastated to hear this news.”

Lidle had agreed to serve as a replacement player when major league players were on strike in spring 1995. The strike was settled before the replacements played any games, but he and other replacement players who went on to play in the big leagues were resented by some of their colleagues.

Lidle was also one of the few active ballplayers to criticize superstar Barry Bonds for his alleged use of steroids. “I don’t want to see him break records,” Lidle said in the spring.

A month ago, the New York Times ran an article about Lidle’s love of flying. The team has worried about flying ever since the death of its catcher Thurman Munson, when the plane he was learning to fly crashed in 1979. But Lidle told the reporter he was safe in the air.

“The whole plane has a parachute on it,” Lidle said. “If you’re up in the air and something goes wrong, you pull that parachute, and the whole plane goes down slowly.”

The article quoted Tyler Stanger, a flight instructor from Pomona who taught him in California. Stanger described Lidle as one of his best students.

Stanger would orchestrate tense maneuvers to see how Lidle responded, Stanger said. Lidle was a star in those situations, Stanger told the newspaper.

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thomas.mulligan@latimes.com

ellen.barry@latimes.com

Times staff writers Matea Gold, Bill Shaikin, Elizabeth Mehren, Lance Pugmire, James Gerstenzang, Peter Spiegel and Nicole Gaouette; researcher Lynn Marshall; and special correspondent John J. Goldman contributed to this report.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Local Beginnings

Cory Lidle, the New York Yankees pitcher killed in a plane crash, got his start in Southern California.

Some biographical and professional information:

Local athlete: Lidle is a 1990 graduate of South Hills High School in West Covina, where he was an all-Southern Section selection his senior year.

Career statistics: Lidle played for seven teams over nine seasons. He had an 82-72 win-loss record and a 4.57 earned-run average.

Family: He is survived by his wife, Melanie, and son, Christopher, 6. His twin brother, Kevin, played minor league baseball.

Sources: MLB.com, Associated Press