Posted on 10/11/2006 4:12:46 PM PDT by pgobrien
http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNumSQL.asp?verified=1&NNumbertxt=929CD
Creep.
weather was fairly clear (some haze)/ Lidle had an instructor with him and some witnesses say they heard the engine sputtering prior to the crash... right now it seems like a horrible accident.
It also appears that therewere no other deaths aside from those in the plane
I just saw breaking news on Fox that the second body was that of his instructor.
That brings up all sorts of wild memories of the past.
I would expect that this will turn out to be a training accident where limits of some sort were exceeded.
Looks like they could find a better place to train than Manhattan. How about over the harbor.
A pilot is Born Free, as free as the wind blows.
Very sad, indeed. I am still surprised that there weren't more casualties, thankfully.
I was more surprised to hear how planes could fly along the rivers, etc at such a low altitude. If a pilot had nefarious intentions, while on their approved flight plan, it would be so easy to divert to a target. Although, probably nothing could be done when someone has that intention with a plane, but I was still surprised to hear the legal fly over rules.
Yeah and what goes up, must come down.
It was overcast all day today in New York, and it's raining very hard right now -- but it wasn't raining out at 2:45 this afternoon.
It's been IFR here in NJ about 20 miles west since I left work at about 4:30. It was raining then and it looked as if it had been raining for some time. I didn't look outside before leaving but it's hard to imagine a poorer day for casual flying.
ML/NJ
Thanks for the weather conditions. It just didn't sound right. Flying around skyscrapers in light aircraft sounds dicey under the BEST of circumstances... wind currents, updrafts etc.
The parachute equiped Cirrus is a fine aircraft, but won't ameliorate collisions at altitude.
Can't believe they didn't pick up fuel contamination/fuel level (if that is what caused it) on the Pre Flight.
God Bless them both. A quick ending doing something they loved.
The JFK/LGA/EWK controlled airspace is HUGE: imagine an upside down wedding cake about 20 miles wide on the surface, and perhaps 80 miles at 7000 feet. This is a big issue for smaller general aviation aircraft, where it would be VERY inefficient to have to skirt around this monstrosity going up and down the coast. The solution was to have created the Hudson VFR corridor - smack down the Hudson river from the surface to 1100 feet. Traffic stays to the right, self-announce on a specific frequency, but generally travel what would be under the tops of many Manhattan buildings. I've traveled this corridor MANY times over the years... its a wonderful sight seeing experience, and even more of a treat at night with NYC all lit up.
At last, someone who knows what he is talking about.
I never flew in and out of NY except IFR. That is the only way I could be sure I was legal.
But my question is, never having flown the river, would a guy who was nervous about the weather, as weather was moving in, take an instructor to lean on....the instructor says "Nothing to it, just up the river ".
They run into viz lower than they are confortable with and try to make a turn and with the high rise buildings get the same result as the pilot that gets trapped in a canyon?
In other words, with an airplane that is a little bit slick, would they have enough room to make a 180 when flying at 200 or 300 ft.?
What was the ceiling and viz?
I hate to say it but it looks to me like they were out of fuel. No fire on the ground is the first clue. I hope it was some kind of leak. 2 pilots taking off without visually checking the tanks would be just as bad as taking off on the wrong runway.
"Cessna 182 George Washington southbound 900..."
"Cessna 182 red and white circling the lady at 600..."
What bothers me about this story are the reports that he was flying up the East River. I don't know that was the case. I'm still fuzzy about the details.
I've never gone up the East River in a fixed wing and from looking at the VFR terminal chart there isn't much elbow room.
Maybe there's some sort of mistake that will be cleared up in time.
My friend has that same exact plane. The parachute is a last resort. I don't think anyone believes it will save you from a situation like this. IT WAS AN ACCIDENT. I'm glad no others died.
If you ask nice, and sound like you won't mess up, then maybe New York approach will send you up or down the river at 1500'.
You're below the arriving and departing terminal traffic and above the VFR riff-raff. Besides, approach would usually rather have you on a discrete code and be talking to you than not. Much less stress and workload from the point of view of a pilot too.
I would very much prefer to transition the corridor through Class B at 1500' as a single pilot than suffer the stress of flying along the river at 1000'. I truly hate doing that alone
Might get a handoff to Bradley or some other facility too if you're talking to someone.
Thanks for the validation. Some others seem quick to judge my intent.
I do not know what the ceilings were in NY at the time, but being IFR capable, I'd always go IFR under marginal conditions. Technically, marginal conditions is anything under a ceiling of 3000'. Lidle had only 400 hours, and perhaps had too much "airplane" for his experience, much like Kennedy.
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