Yankees' Cory Lidle Plane Crash on 72nd Street in Manhattan, NYC NEW YORK — A small plane with New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle aboard crashed into a 50-story condominium tower Wednesday on Manhattan's Upper East Side, killing two people, authorities said. There was no immediate confirmation Lidle was among the dead, and earlier reports indicated four had died. A law enforcement official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press that Lidle was on the plane. And Federal Aviation Administration records showed the single-engine plane was registered to the athlete, National Transportation Safety Board spokeswoman Deborah Hersman told reporters. An instructor and a student pilot were on the plane when it struck the tower at 524 E. 72nd St., New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "The metal parts are basically in the street. The engine was on one of the floors," he said. "The initial indication is that there is a terrible accident," Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke said, and Bloomberg said there was "nothing to suggest that anything remotely like terrorism was involved in this." Nevertheless, fighter jets were scrambled over U.S. cities as a precaution, the Pentagon said. The crash at the Belaire overlooking the East River struck fear in a city devastated by the attacks of Sept. 11 five years ago. Sirens echoed across the neighborhood as emergency workers and ambulances rushed in with stretchers. Broken glass and debris were strewn around the neighborhood. Tags: Cory Lidle, Yankees, plane, crash, Manhattan, NYC, 72nd, street, New York
