Plane Hits N.Y. Building

[ponto]

Breaking News............

A small aircraft has crashed into a high-rise residential building at 72nd Street and York in Manhattan, police said.

There was no word on casualties as firefighters battled the flames that shot up from several windows on the 30th story.

cnn photo

.

[ponto]

The Federal Aviation Administration is handling reaction to the incident. FAA spokeswoman Diane Spitaliere that it was a small, fixed-wing aircraft that was involved, but there was very little other information collected so far.

The building is a 50-story condominium tower built in 1986 and located nearby Sotheby's Auction House. It has 183 apartments, many of which sell for more than $1 million.

A spokesman for the National Transportation Security Board said that agency is organizing a team to send to New York to investigate the crash.

[ponto]

2 people are now confirmed dead.

NORAD said it had put fighter aircraft into the air over numerous U.S. cities, though they said they had no reason to believe the event in New York was anything more than an accident.

[ponto]

It is not an act of terrorism, however it is confirmed that NY Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle was the pilot of the plane and has died in the crash.

Also unconfirmed is the possibility that there were three passengers aboard.

[dpolley]

Not much luck when he was with the Reds, but man, I liked Cory. He will surely be missed.