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The Situation Room

Small Airplane Crashes Into New York City Building; Yankees Pitcher Reportedly On Board

Aired October 11, 2006 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I just want to update our viewers in the United States and around the world.
We have been following the breaking news coming out of New York City, the Upper East Side of New York City. A couple hours or so ago, a small plane -- we now know it's a Cirrus SR-20 that is capable of carrying four passengers -- crashed into a 50-story apartment building on East 72nd Street, near York, along the East River in Manhattan.

We are now told this plane belonged to the New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle, 34 years old, who only received a pilot's license less than a year ago.

Anderson Cooper is our reporter on the scene right now.

Anderson, you have been speaking to eyewitnesses. You're there right now. Update our viewers on what we know.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Wolf, just wanted to show you the building as it stands right now, if you can pan up.

We are about two blocks north of the building. There are still firefighters and emergency officials inside the apartment where the plane hit. Obviously, the investigation is well under way now. At this point, they have cordoned off on area all around the building. And we are starting to get eyewitness reports. We heard from one man who says he was working several floors up in the building, when he actually saw the plane approaching the building.

He says he saw the pilot inside the aircraft. And, then, the explosion, he says he took the elevator down with a number of other people, checking a few floors, to see if there were any other people, and then taking the elevator all the way down.

We have another person who saw the plane go across.

What is your name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Michele (ph).

COOPER: Michele.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

COOPER: Timbermanz (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, Timbermanz.

COOPER: And you are from Holland?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, from Holland.

COOPER: You were on a bridge...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

COOPER: ... nearby. What did you see?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was standing on a bridge. And I was looking at the skyline of Manhattan.

And, then, I saw something falling from the sky. And it was like zigzagging down. And I couldn't see what it was, a helicopter or a plane, something small. And then I saw it crashing into that building. And I saw a huge flame, like, for about three seconds. And then the flame was gone. And then it started smoking.

And we saw a light from the bridge. You could see all Manhattan. You could see the police going up and all the lights. And...

COOPER: Did you -- from your vantage point, though, you couldn't tell what it was, whether it was a helicopter or a plane?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, just something small. But it was, like, zigzagging. Like, at first, I thought it was a helicopter, because it was, like, something broke, you know, something, because it zigzagged down. It was coming from the side of the water.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: So, when you say zigzagging, it wasn't flying in a regular pattern?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, no, no.

COOPER: It seemed -- it -- you -- something about it caught your eye?

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like out of control. Like, then, I thought at first it was a terrorist attack. And I was looking if some other planes were coming down or something else, because I was standing on a bridge.

So, I felt unsafe. And, then, I saw, like, nothing else happening. And I took some pictures. And, then, I came here to watch what's going on here.

COOPER: Michele, appreciate you telling us what you saw. Thank you very much.

So, we are starting to get more and more eyewitness accounts, Wolf. Probably the most significant thing that Michele was saying is something about the erratic nature of the flight path of this -- of this, what we now know as a plane, was taking caught his attention. He talks about it sort of falling out of the sky, to use his words.

We are still trying to collect information here on the scene. We are anticipating a press conference from city officials, from the mayor, who has been on the scene since shortly after this crash occurred. We will certainly bring that to you, Wolf, as it happens.

BLITZER: The mayor is supposed to come to where you are, or near where you are, Anderson, together with the fire commissioner, the police commissioner?

COOPER: At this point, we don't know. We will go wherever the press conference takes place.

We are getting some reports from a neighborhood hospital that they have received a number of people, including a number of firefighters who have been injured in this. And we are still trying to get confirmation on actual numbers. But we will bring that to you, also, Wolf, as soon as we have it.

BLITZER: Anderson, stand by. We are going to get back to you very soon.

And we are standing by for that news conference, the mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg. As soon as he starts speaking and answering reporters' questions, we are going to go there live.

Our Internet reporter, Abbi Tatton is getting some additional information as well -- Abbi.

ABBI TATTON, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: Wolf, we are getting many eyewitnesses sending in videos and images to CNN through I-report, like this video that has just come in.

This is from Sourabh Banerjee, who took these images right after the crash happened of the crash site, the intense burning there at this apartment building we know is on East 72nd Street in New York City, a 50-story building called the Bel Air.

Sourabh recorded these images and sent them in. And we're getting many other pictures of people looking up taking photos with their digital cameras and sending them in to us -- these from Dean Collins. Dean says he was working at home in a building opposite the Bel Air. He heard -- he heard an explosion. He didn't hear the plane beforehand, just the explosion, took this.

But he also took photos looking down. Look at the base of that building right after the explosion happened, the smoke billowing out of it there. There are flames visible there on the pavement, on the sidewalk, this the bottom of the Bel Air building.

And people across New York City are recording these images and sending them in. You are also seeing them at photo-sharing Web sites, like flickr.com -- this also sent into CNN from Jonathan Keller (ph). He -- he works across the river, recorded this picture. You can see just how close to the East River that explosion, that crash site is -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And remind our viewers, Abbi. If they have images, if they have pictures, videotape that they want to forward to us, how do they do that?

TATTON: They just go on to CNN.com, Wolf. You will see the banners, the -- the links there that will take you to I-Report. We have made it very simple for you to forward your images and your videos. And they are coming in right now.

BLITZER: Abbi, thanks very much.

I want to show our viewers a still photo that we got from a freelance photographer. There it is. You can see the wing from this plane -- Rick Dembow, the freelance photographer, sending this into us. That is the wing, apparently -- apparently -- from Cory Lidle's plane. It was a small Cirrus SR-20 that had taken off from Teterboro, a small airport in northern New Jersey used by a lot of private planes, a lot of private pilots.

And, clearly, there was some trouble. We are told by our Kelli Arena there are reports that there was a mayday just before this small plane crashed into this apartment building, the Bel Air.

We have our homeland security adviser joining us on the phone right now, I believe.

Do we?

Pat D'Amuro, are you there?

PAT D'AMURO, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: I'm here, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Good.

You have heard all of our reporting. You have seen what we know. You have seen the steps that the state, the local, the federal authorities have taken. Give us your sense of how they are doing.

D'AMURO: Well, they are doing it by the numbers, Wolf. I mean, obviously, the first thing -- first concern they had was to put out the fire and evacuate the building, and make sure there were no other casualties, or to minimize casualties as much as possible.

What we are hearing now, obviously, the information is getting out, indicating that this was not a terrorist attack, but the crash of Cory Lidle's aircraft, which is a disaster itself, but at least letting the public know that this is not a terrorism event.

BLITZER: Which is going to be very, very reassuring, as heartbreaking as it is that there is a loss of life. And we are told now at least two people have lost their lives, according to the NYPD, although we are waiting for more information, Pat, from the mayor of New York. We spoke earlier with the governor. Give us a final thought before I go to Miles O'Brien, who is watching this story, Pat, on the steps that you saw unfold. You are a former FBI agent. You understand the jitters in New York City in the aftermath of 9/11.

D'AMURO: Absolutely.

And the first-responders were on the scene very quickly, trying to obtain the necessary information. Obviously, there was information that was being obtained from the FAA as to the owner of who the -- that aircraft was registered to, to make sure they could determine if this was an accident or a terrorism event. Were there communications about a fuel problem? They will be following up all on that.

And I am sure we will be hearing from the mayor shortly, indicating exactly what happened.

BLITZER: Stand by, Pat.

I want to go back to Miles O'Brien, our senior CNN anchor, who lives -- I believe you live on the Upper East Side or someplace in Manhattan right now, Miles. But you are familiar with this small plane. You are familiar with Teterboro, the small airport from which this plane took off. And you are watching all of this unfold together with us.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, actually, I live on the Upper West Side.

I have spent an awful lot of time looking out my apartment window at the little airplanes that pass by. I myself have had an opportunity to take a ride down the Hudson River. It's a spectacular view. It is something that is an allure for pilots.

It is also a very, very busy piece of airspace, with tremendous numbers of helicopters used for corporate purposes, for tourism, not to mention all those little planes that like to go down, and, as we say, go see the lady, which is what you tell them when you are talking to air traffic control about it.

But, as we have been pointing out, there is this deck beneath which airplanes can fly without having direct contact or outright permission from air traffic control. It's kind of a rule of just keeping watch for each other. You broadcast on a specific frequency. You tell the world on that frequency where you are and where you are headed. And then you just keep your eyes peeled, try to swivel your head like an owl, because there's just so much traffic there.

This airport, Teterboro, which is about nine miles from the crash site on the East Side of Manhattan, Teterboro is the closest in general aviation airport to the New York City area. It provides a lot of service for corporate aviation, primarily, and, then, some small airplanes. I keep my plane a little farther out, at Caldwell, because Teterboro is so crowded and so expensive to operate from.

But I have flown in and out of there many times. And it's a short hop from Teterboro. Typically, what you would do is head to the north a little bit, and come back down over the George Washington Bridge, down the Hudson River, around the New York Harbor, and up into the East River. All of that space below 1,100 feet is fair game for visual flight rules flying for -- by small pilots.

And it is something that happens day in and day out with great safety. But, given the number -- the amount of traffic that occurs there, matter of fact, it's -- it's amazing that we haven't seen more of these kinds of things over the years.

But, given the amount of traffic, I guess it was inevitable there would be a case where you would have a mishap. So, what happened specifically in this case? I can tell you this. This was a -- technically, a visual flight rules day, nine miles of visibility below that 1,800 foot cloud deck.

But there wasn't a lot of margin there; 1,800 feet is a pretty low cloud deck, and doesn't give you a lot of room to play with. If you get in trouble, you are going to be up in the clouds. And, if you need to get higher, you are going to be up in the clouds very quickly.

So, when I -- when you are -- spend some time thinking about flying in New York, they tell you to really make sure you are thinking all the time about traffic, and you are also very aware that, if your engine conks out over one of those rivers, there's no -- no alternative landing spots. There's no open space.

And, you know, in this case, we don't know that his engine conked out. We do know he had the safest single-engine airplane that any -- that anybody can imagine. It has got a parachute built into it. But, in this case, so low and in a scenario where there's a lot of traffic, who knows what might have distracted him or put him in a situation where he couldn't have used that chute.

BLITZER: Especially if he was flying by himself, Miles, without a flight instructor or a co-pilot alongside.

Cory Lidle was 34 years old. He was born in Hollywood, Florida, in March of 1972. He's -- he was the right-handed pitcher who broke into the Major Leagues with the New York Mets back in 1997. Through the years, he played also for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, the Oakland A's, the Toronto Blue Jays, the Cincinnati Reds, and the Philadelphia Phillies, before being traded to the New York Yankees only a few months ago.

Lidle last played just this past weekend, when he pitched in relief for the Yankees in game four of the divisional playoffs. The Yankees lost that game. They were eliminated from the playoffs -- season was over for Lidle and the rest of the team.

Miles, you point out that this plane was a very safe plane. It was only a month ago that Cory Lidle was interviewed by "The New York Times," talking about his other life as a pilot, beyond being a baseball pitcher.

Let me read you a quote from that article in "The New York Times."

"The whole plane has a parachute on it," he said. "Ninety-nine percent of pilots that go up never have engine failure, and the 1 percent that do usually land it. But, if you're up in the air and something goes wrong, you pull that parachute, and the whole plane goes down slowly."

Clearly, that did not happen in this case.

Talk to us. You are familiar with this parachute.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

I mean, it's really -- it's an amazing safety feature. And, as I say, Cirrus was the pioneer of this whole notion of a parachute tucked in the airplane, that, if you need to, you pull the...

BLITZER: We are showing it to our viewers, Miles, right now. We are showing the parachute system, how this parachute comes out of the tail, and simply begins to float down the plane, if the plane is in serious trouble.

O'BRIEN: Well, and there have been a series of incidents involving the deployment of this parachute. And there are several people who are walking and breathing on the face of this Earth because of that parachute.

The most recent one occurred in Minnesota just a month or so again. A pilot taking off in a Cirrus SR-22 was stricken with -- I believe it was a stroke or some sort of affliction, which made him incapacitated. He was with three other people in the airplane, none of them pilots.

And they were -- the one thing I always do when I begin a flight in this airplane is, I tell my passengers how to pull that parachute. And I tell them that, you know, if I can't fly this airplane, this is your ticket to my funeral, essentially. But at least you are going to be there.

So, what happened in that case was the three other passengers survived because of the deployment of that parachute. Otherwise, they would not have been there to live to tell the tale.

It -- it was designed by two brothers by the name of Klapmeier, Alan and Dale Klapmeier. They're in Duluth, Minnesota. And it was -- the idea was hatched out of Alan Klapmeier's experience years ago with a midair collision. He was involved in a midair collision. He lived to tell the tale, obviously, but got him thinking about the notion of, why can't there be an option for pilots in -- in those worst-case scenarios?

And that's what made him think about putting parachutes in airplanes. And this plane, which is now the largest selling single- engine airplane in America, is -- has a lot of other safety features. It's an all composite airplane, has glass cockpit. It has all kinds of things. But it also has this parachute, which really sets it apart.

And, as far as I'm concerned, when you are flying in situations where the weather might be dicey with your family, it gives you one more layer of protection.

However, if you are flying low and slow, and you are preoccupied with something else, and you are over the East River, it's not a silver-bullet solution, clearly.

BLITZER: And I just want to continue pointing out to our viewers we are following this breaking story.

Miles, listen to this from this "New York Times" story that was published only a month or so ago, September 8, 2006. In the story, Cory Lidle tells why he became passionate, passionate about learning to become a pilot.

He met an instructor named Tyler Stanger in Pomona, California, who began talking about it. And, eventually, Cory Lidle said he was hooked.

Let me read from the article: "Part of Stanger's job is to surprise students by simulating emergencies. He will pull the throttle to the idle position, essentially letting the plane coast, as if the engine were failing. Other times, he said, he would instruct a student to wear blinders, so only the instrument panel was visible, simulating bad weather.

Then, Stanger would tilt the plane, nose-high or nose-low, making the student recover by trusting the instruments. 'Most people get ruffled, get kind of ruffled,' Stanger said. 'He was like, OK, no big deal.' A lot of it is his mental state."

Clearly, Cory Lidle was a cool customer, as he was being trained to become a pilot.

O'BRIEN: It sounds like he got some pretty good training. It sounds like he talked to some of my instructors along the way. That's the way you are supposed to be trained.

They are supposed to throw a lot of eventualities at you just like that. And it's -- you know, and you -- you go through that kind of training. And you think you're -- you can handle most any scenario.

But the real world has a way of throwing things at you that even the most diabolical instructor cannot think up. And there -- unfortunately, in some cases, there's no substitute -- and aviation is one of them -- there's just no substitute for having a lot of time and experience in those situations, where you have got a lot of traffic, a lot of things going on, a very tight airspace, very little margin for error for your altitude above, the ground below, the buildings beside you.

I mean, that is -- it's like flying into kind of a dead-end canyon, almost, because he was at the end, where the airspace was no longer legal for him to be making that turn -- making that turnaround to avoid La Guardia airspace. And, you know, all of a sudden, you have -- you have got the skyline of Manhattan and the skyscrapers. And there's just not a lot of margin.

BLITZER: If in fact he would have opened up that parachute -- and I want to see if we can get that video showing the simulation of how this small plane has a parachute on its tail, and it begins to float down.

If we could let it breathe, and let this plane actually show how it's going to land, I think that would be interesting.

Miles, if this pilot, Cory Lidle, had opened up that parachute as it was having trouble going up the East River of Manhattan, what would have happened, presumably, with a big parachute like that, as it was in trouble with all those high rise buildings not very far away?

O'BRIEN: Well, you know, it's tough to say. I can tell you this.

That would be an awfully low altitude in which to deploy that parachute. I believe that most recent crash I told you about, the parachute was deployed at a pretty low altitude, but maybe not as low as he was in this case.

The -- you know, takes a little while for the parachute to fully deploy, and for -- it has a series of shrouds that cradle the aircraft, to make sure the aircraft lands not in a completely flat orientation, you know, just lands right on the wheels. And that's a process that takes a little bit of time.

And I'm not sure, in this circumstance, that there was enough time for all that to unfold.

You know, at the very least, if he had enough warning that he was in that kind of dire trouble, certainly would have tried it. And that might have -- that might have slowed him down, put him in the river, might have -- who knows what kind of scenario that might have led to, but might very well have saved him, saved that plane from going into that building.

BLITZER: Stand by, Miles.

Tom Foreman is here in THE SITUATION ROOM with us.

You have got some information that you have been working on. Tom, what are you picking up?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let's take a look at where this happened.

This is the actual place on Manhattan Island where the plane crashed. You can see this is the river here. And that's Central Park right there, United Nations down there.

And this is the building. All indications are that the plane came in from this side, which would be the north side, and hit this building.

Now, I want to pull out here and show you the Teterboro Airport, which is one of the places we are talking about an awful lot here. If you go from the island over here, to Teterboro Airport, it's this one right here. That matters, because, roughly, at the time we are talking about of this accident, this is what was showing on the Teterboro Airport's tracking program, the thing that tracks flights in and out of that area.

I want you to look at that. You see these here. It's a difficult image to see, but it will tell you what we are talking about. One plane here starts heading across. And, if you look at the time over here -- it will take a moment until it resets here to the proper time -- you see a plane that takes off here and starts heading over toward Manhattan Island.

Here we go. It's 14:25. So, that's 2:25 in the afternoon. You see a plane that begins heading toward the island over here. This is roughly around the time we are talking about. We are going to highlight this plane in a moment.

And, when you do, you will see that the height of the plane is rapidly climbing. It's about 700 feet here. Then it's at about 800 feet, 900 feet, still climbing. It's getting close to the island now. It moves at this point up to about 1,100 feet, 1,200 feet, 1,300 feet. It's climbing, climbing, climbing. Then, it hits the maximum on this flight, 1,500 feet.

Now, the accident site is right down here. It starts turning right around here. And, suddenly, you see the readout dropped dramatically, 1,400 feet, down further. Suddenly, you see the same plane shown at 900 feet, 700 feet. And the last time you see it on here, it reads at 400 feet, which is an incredibly low position for any plane to be around an island like that.

We do not know for sure that this is his plane. But this most assuredly was a plane coming from the direction of Teterboro at that hour that went right over the crash site and turned, which would have brought it into that airport -- that air -- that building from the north, and was very, very rapidly losing altitude.

BLITZER: Well, it sounds like it was that plane, because we were told it took off around 2:30.

FOREMAN: Exactly.

BLITZER: And this looks like it took off at 2:30. It began the ascent. But then it began a quick descent right around this building, the Bel Air.

FOREMAN: Right over Central Park, it would have been at its highest point. If we can pull back up Google Maps again, you might be able to see where Central Park is.

You would see the point where it would be at its highest point, which would have been right about here, if we will zoom back in. You will see, this is Central Park. It would have been at its highest coming this way right about here, then down...

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: So, it actually flew over Central Park?

FOREMAN: It would -- from the appearance of the air tracker, yes. It would have gone over Central Park, or perhaps over the north end, maybe even over here near the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: So, he was struggling. Clearly, he was struggling.

Miles O'Brien, you have heard that analysis. I don't know if you have access to a television where you are, if you could see what Tom was reporting.

But what do you make of it?

O'BRIEN: Well, I will tell you this, Wolf.

I -- unfortunately, I can't see. But your description, Tom, was excellent. And that -- I would be very surprised if that was not the radar return for that particular airplane. If not, there's another airplane out there that got in trouble, too, and we don't know about it. So, I think this is probably it.

And here's the thing. We have -- I have been talking all along about these rivers and the VFR, visual flight rules, sort of open airspace, 1,100 feet and below along the rivers Hudson and East.

But you cannot fly across the island of Manhattan without talking to somebody at air traffic control. So, it remains to be seen whether he had made contact and was talking with them. As I understand it from other reports, Wolf, you might have in front of you, the FAA saying he was not talking to air traffic control. So, that would have been a clear violation of the rules, to fly over Central Park without talking...

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Because that's restricted -- that's -- because that's restricted airspace, I take it?

O'BRIEN: Yes, it is. That would be part of the restricted airspace around the so-called class-B airspace around New York City.

Those -- those VFR corridors that I have been telling you about, those little spaces where you can fly small planes without talking, are just limited to the rivers, and are very limited to low altitude. And you are not flying over Manhattan, legally, under those rules.

So, it remains to be seen. You know, you can call air traffic control and ask for permission to do that kind of thing. And they can certainly grant you that kind of permission. But everything I have heard thus far is that he was not necessarily in contact with air traffic control at the time.

So, you know, it's very early here. They could -- it could prove out that he -- that he was, in fact, being tracked by radar. But nothing we have heard thus far indicates that that is sort of what happened.

BLITZER: Miles, a quick note, a point.

Kelli Arena had reported earlier that they did get word, the FAA, of a mayday, a distress call. Would that be on the radio, or would be there some other way that a small plane like this would have some sort of mayday-mayday call?

O'BRIEN: Well, there are a couple ways you can indicate to the world you are in trouble. There's some codes that you can put into your transponder. Your transponder is kind of an amplifier for radar. It gives you...

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: ... radar...

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Miles, hold on a second. Hold on, Miles, because the mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, is now speaking to reporters.

O'BRIEN: OK. Yes.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (R), MAYOR OF NEW YORK: ... everybody here.

What we do know about the passengers is that one was a flight instructor, and another one was a student pilot, who we think had about 75 hours of experience. And that's basically what we know. Anything else is speculation.

We can't exactly tell what the route was after it came up the East River, and why it had turned onto 72nd Street. But that's the -- what the NTSB will try to find out. The plane was a plane that's basically a composite plane. So, most of the body did burn up. The metal parts are basically in the street. The engine was found on one of the floors.

But it's a pretty light plane. And, so, there was not a lot of damage done to the building. And we just, I think, are very lucky that it was not anything more than two people, although our prayers go out to them.

I also want to say that, in this day and age, obviously, everybody is very sensitive when they hear something like a plane crashing into a building. Homeland Security, the NYPD, and everybody else involved sees absolutely no evidence of anything relating to terrorism or anything else. Why the plane was turned on to 72nd Street and hit the building, that's something that will be investigated. But there is nothing to suggest that anything remotely like terrorism was involved in this.

We will be happy to take a question or two.

QUESTION: Mr. Mayor...

BLOOMBERG: Yes.

QUESTION: ... do we know, was the plane being driven by -- being piloted by the instructor or...

(CROSSTALK)

BLOOMBERG: We do not know this. We have absolutely no idea. And if two people are sitting next to each other, a plane like this, either one could have their hands on their controls. And we don't know.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: ... Cory Lidle of the Yankees was one of the...

(CROSSTALK)

BLOOMBERG: We do not release any names until we notify next of kin, which we have so far been unable to do.

Miss.

QUESTION: Mr. Mayor, how many apartments total were affected and were hit by the plane?

BLOOMBERG: Well, it's two floors. But, apparently, there were a number of apartments that had been combined into at least one, perhaps two large apartments.

What is lucky is that there were not many people there. And in the one -- one location, whether it was part of the same apartment or not, the two people that were there, I did talk to them. They were a little bit shaken up. I think one stopped by the hospital just to be examined.

But there was no injury whatsoever. And they said they were sitting there. They heard a noise, instantly, glass breaking and metal coming in. And they ran to the door out into the hall. And that's all they could tell us.

Sir.

QUESTION: Mayor, before it was determined this was not an act of terrorism, was there consideration or was there any scrambling of aircraft?

BLOOMBERG: Not as far as I know. It was obviously -- it was obvious from the beginning it was a very small plane, just from the size of the and the amount of damage done to the outside of the building.

So, other than, in this day and age, you obviously think about that right away, I think, within minutes, people were arriving on the scene. The fire department and police department were probably reasonably confident that it was not. Obviously, you want to do an investigation before you make a final determination.

Sir.

QUESTION: How would you rate the communication between fire and police and the response, setting up a command post, stuff like that?

BLOOMBERG: It's exactly what you would have expected. It went perfectly according to plan, two proud agencies, with great traditions and equipment and training, working side by side. That's what the public has a right to expect, and that's exactly what these agencies do.

The Office of Emergency Management has run drill after drill after drill, and has sat with both to make sure that, when we have to work together, we know what each persons and each agency's responsibility is. And they did exactly what they were supposed to do.

Sir.

QUESTION: Was the new SIMS (ph) system used? Was...

(CROSSTALK)

BLOOMBERG: Absolutely. This is an aviation disaster.

And, in those cases, you have a unified command under SIMS. And that's what's happened. You saw a police officer, a senior officer, at the fire department site, and a senior fire officer at the police department site. And those were next to each other. And they were working together for the entire time.

Sir.

QUESTION: In the initial minutes, before you knew exactly how -- how bad it was, was there any discussion about (INAUDIBLE).

BLOOMBERG: No. Things were -- it was ascertained pretty quickly that this was unlikely to be anything more than what it appears to be, a small plane going into a mixed-use building at an apartment floor level.

Sir.

QUESTION: Any information about Air Traffic Control, and did they lose track of this aircraft?

BLOOMBERG: Yes, I said from the beginning it took off from Teterboro at about 2:29, they have it on radar circling the Statue of Liberty and then heading up the East River. They lost contact with at about the 59th Street Bridge going north. If the plane had started to descend, that's exactly what you would expect. Radar coverage only goes so low. And after that, there is no radar track of how it got onto 72nd Street but the NTSB will have to figure that out -- Miss.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

BLOOMBERG: It's up to the NTSB to find out if they will be able to determine that. I don't know. Then, in cases like this, there are witnesses who see a lot of things and if they are not corroborated, you really don't know -- Sir.

QUESTION: Can you tell us about any restrictions about small aircraft flying over Manhattan?

BLOOMBERG: There are clear rules about what you can do. You can't fly over Manhattan without a clearance. You can fly up and down the Hudson River at 1,000 feet or below. The East River there is an exclusion zone where you don't have to be radar controlled.

Fundamentally from about 72nd, 59th Street Bridge, some place on Roosevelt Island South, whether it violated the airspace as it was going north, only the NTSB will have to know. Yes, Miss?

QUESTION: What was the actual name of the company that was overseeing the sightseeing? Or was it a privately chartered?

BLOOMBERG: As far as we can tell it was a privately owned plane. Yes, Sir?

QUESTION: Was there any indication that there was radio communication between the airport and the aircraft?

BLOOMBERG: I do not know at this time. I'd heard a rumor that there was but then nobody else could substantiate that. In cases like this, you always have lots of conflicting things. But the NTSB will do their usual customary, thorough search. I'm sure it will take some time. And they will eventually issue a report that will give every bit of information they were able to ascertain. Sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you describe the police and fire response to this emergency?

BLOOMBERG: Well, massive and quick and coordinated I think is a good way to phrase it. Everybody was able to get their equipment through traffic here. Response time was very fast and they were all able to get their equipment into place.

Fire department got lines pretty quickly up on the two floors to knock down the fire. Police department had control of the whole area. Together they went to every apartment and knocked on the door and helped anybody out. Miss?

QUESTION: Mayor, what does this say about the security of New York City's airspace? BLOOMBERG: Well, this is -- I don't think this has anything to do with the security of New York City's airspace. Small planes are allowed to fly sightseeing up and down the rivers, and that's the FAA's decision and sadly an accident like this cost two people their lives. But I don't know that there's any greater significance. Miss?

QUESTION: Mayor, you mentioned a 911 phone call. Do we know who made the phone call and at what point?

BLOOMBERG: At this point we do not or I do not. Sir?

QUESTION: Do you have any reports of communication problems with telephones or radios with the fire department or police?

BLOOMBERG: No, none whatsoever. And keep in mind they also were basically standing next to each other. So this was not a problem of using radios. They were standing together working together at both command places so that they could work together. Yes, Miss?

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

BLOOMBERG: A small plane like this would be very unlikely to have a flight recorder. That's only for bigger planes so they would not. Yes, sir, behind you?

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)

BLOOMBERG: Well, there's just such different magnitude things. I don't know that there's any meaningful comparison. I can tell you this, everything that we planned to handle an emergency like this was carried out to the book exactly the ways that we had wanted to go. Last question, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Mayor, when you first heard a plane hit a building, what was the first thing that went through your head?

BLOOMBERG: I saw on a computer screen a small plane had hit a building, and right away looked for the messages coming out of the Office of Emergency Management which did confirm it was a small plane. And then they have professionals, the P.D. and the FDNY know how to respond.

The OEM knows how to provide the coordination that everybody needs. And I did not worry that we wouldn't be able to handle this at all. I'm very proud of the way everybody responded. I thank God it was nothing more serious.

So let me recap. A small plane takes off from Teterboro at 2:30, circles the Statue of Liberty, heads up the East River -- as far as we can tell at that point had not violated any Air Traffic Control rules as to where planes can fly. Air Traffic Control lost radar contact with the plane heading north at about the 59th Street Bridge.

At 2:42, a 911 call came in reporting the crash. Fire and police responded. OEM responded and everybody worked together. The fire was knocked down quickly. Eleven firefighters treated for minor injuries. A couple of civilians refused medical attention.

Two people that I talked to were in one of the apartments when at least a piece of metal -- I don't know how much -- came through their window. They ran out of the apartment and we evacuated the building. And now the building is being reoccupied. And the NTSB is on site and the police department has secured the area after the fire marshals had made sure that they'd recovered any bodies.

There were no bodies found in the building. The only two bodies were found on the street. And obviously when the plane hit, part of it went into the building, but the rest of it probably just fell straight down. And it's very tragic, but that's what it is.

I think we have to say a little prayer for those we lost. Two human beings' lives were snuffed out. But we also should say a prayer to say thank you that it wasn't anything more serious than this. And that's OK -- you're ...

QUESTION: The people that were in the apartment where the metal came through, were they a couple or ...

BLOOMBERG: They were two people, a man and a woman.

QUESTION: A man and a woman. Do you know what came through, a wing or?

BLOOMBERG: No, I don't think there were any big pieces. There were no big pieces of rubble found and the engine block was in the apartment but that's it. And I don't know that it was on the same floor. That's it. So I think, thank you very much is the answer, we've been over it. Thank you.

BLITZER: All right, Michael Bloomberg the mayor of New York City speaking with reporters telling us what he knows at this point. Clearly trying to reassure a very nervous public out there that this is what it apparently is, namely a small plane that had taken off from Teterboro, a small airport in northern New Jersey.

He says two people were on board, a flight instructor as well as the student pilot. And the plane clearly had trouble, crashed into this building on East 72nd Street. We are told that the plane belonged to Cory Lidle, a picture for the New York Yankees, 34 years old.

Jack Cafferty, Mayor Bloomberg knows a lot about this kind of subject. I believe he himself is a licensed pilot.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: How about our mayor? I was just watching that briefing. He handles his office and his responsibilities with a certain amount of elan. I mean he knew his stuff, he took the questions, you get a sense that he's in charge. Good stuff. Proud of the mayor.

I just wonder, Cory Lidle, it said earlier that he may have been leaving for the off-season. The direction he was heading up the East River, that's toward Yankee Stadium. You kind of wonder if maybe he was going to take one last look at the home office before he headed out of town. We don't know that of course.

The question we asked earlier was in light of fears about terror attacks from the air and of course that's immediately where everybody's mind went to the second this was reported. What restrictions if any should govern non-commercial air traffic around large U.S. cities? We have a ton of air traffic around New York, day and night from three major airports, two regional airports, heliports on both rivers. I mean the sky is always crowded with stuff flying around here.

Anton in Geneva, Illinois writes, "I'm a private pilot, I live in Chicago. Don't encourage further chipping away at our freedoms. It's ridiculous to even consider restricting general aviation flights in proximity to large cities. Cars kill more people per capita than general aviation does. Should we ban cars from major cities? Most pilots are far more professional than 99 percent of drivers, accidents happen."

Elizabeth in New York, "My phone has been ringing off the hook for the last 90 minutes because I live five blocks from the crash. Forget terrorism, I'm more scared about a pilot losing control and plowing into my neighborhood. There has to be a better system to keep this from happening."

Dan in Libertyville, Illinois, "Please, this was a tragic accident and doesn't need knee-jerk reactions to start banning anything. Aircraft have been flying that river corridor for years without any problems. This incident does not need any regulatory response."

Jason in Brooklyn, "As a New Yorker I firmly believe no non- essential aircraft should be flying freely around our city. Watching CNN today I learned that these small planes have no flight plan, so basically they are just zipping around Manhattan high-rises at their own will. It just seems like common sense."

And Zach in Birmingham, Alabama, "Air travel remains as one of the safest forms of transportation statistically. I feel restrictions around U.S. cities should change very little because in the grand scheme of things, getting behind the wheel of an automobile is much more dangerous. These instances like today are just mere freak accidents."

So people I think, get it. You know these kinds of things tragically once in a gray while happen. Given the number of flights in and out of here, it's a pretty safe place. And you know, as I said, we have stuff in the air 24/7 around this metropolitan area. And there aren't too many mishaps. So that's a good thing -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, well it looks like this was what it appears to be now, just an accident, an awful accident, a tragic accident. Jack thanks very much. We'll be back to you soon. Want to go to Anderson Cooper, he's on the scene. Once again, Anderson, you're speaking to eyewitnesses. What else are you picking up?

COOPER: Well we are here actually with a woman named Carol Higgins Clark who lives in the building. You were luckily not in the building when this occurred, you were in a taxi heading toward the building?

CAROL HIGGINS CLARK, EYEWITNESS: I was coming home. I was out and I was heading down 72nd Street and all of a sudden a police car went racing by. And then we saw black smoke just covering the whole view to the east on 72nd. And I said I'm surprised there aren't more sirens, it must have just happened.

And then I got out at First Avenue because the cab had to stop and I went running. I actually made it all the way to my building but that's when I realized something had hit the building and the fire trucks pulled up. But then obviously they got everybody out of there.

COOPER: Was there debris on the street that you saw?

CLARK: Yes, there was some debris on the street, not too much. It was so smoky that it was hard to even see much but I did see a little bit of debris on the street. But I think there's more debris over on 71st Street on the other side.

COOPER: And did you see people coming out of the building at all at that point?

CLARK: It was all so frantic and right away they started -- I went into the dry cleaner across the street and called my family to say I was ok. And then the police said we had to get out of there too.

COOPER: Your apartment is on the 39th floor?

CLARK: Thirty-eighth floor.

COOPER: Thirty-eighth floor.

CLARK: So I'm looking up trying to figure out. Its right around where all the blackened --

COOPER: It's a 50-story building. We think the plane went in around the 39th or 40th floor. That's a rough estimate from what we can tell. So it seemed to be right above where you live.

CLARK: Yes, I think so.

COOPER: Have you been told anything about when you may be able to get back inside?

CLARK: Not a thing.

COOPER: What are you going to do tonight?

CLARK: My mother has an apartment here in the city so I'll go stay with her. And she wants to see me anyway. So, you know.

COOPER: How are you doing? You must be kind of shaken. CLARK: It is very scary. I'm glad I wasn't home and worried about my neighbors. I'm hearing conflicting reports about people that were hurt inside the building so I don't know.

COOPER: At this point Mayor Bloomberg is saying that two people lost their lives and those were the two people aboard the aircraft. At this point there are no reports of anyone inside the building that have lost their lives there. There are few injuries neighborhood hospitals reported. But largely it seems a number of firefighters have been injured in trying to put out the blaze. So, Carol, thank you. I'm glad you weren't in the building.

CLARK: Thank you.

COOPER: Thank you very much. So Wolf, again, we are just starting to hear more and more eyewitness accounts. Earlier I talked to an eyewitness who saw the plane go in. Saw it flying and he described it in a zigzag pattern, erratically. He was on a bridge and something about the way the plane was flying caught his eye.

We also heard from another eyewitness who was on the 48th floor doing some construction work in one of the apartments who says he saw the plane before it hit, says he saw the pilot. There had been one report that only one pilot, there was only one person aboard the plane, but Mayor Bloomberg saying two people were aboard that aircraft, an instructor and a student. We have now confirmed that the plane was registered to Cory Lidle, the New York Yankees' pitcher -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Anderson, stand by, we're going to get back to you.

But joining us on the phone now, Scott Graham. He's an announcer for the Philadelphia Phillies, a friend of Cory Lidle's.

Scott, what are you hearing, because I'm sure you are checking out your sources as well?

SCOTT GRAHAM, PHILLIES' ANNOUNCER: Everything that I've heard has been filtered back through the types of things that you referred and, clearly, you know, the room for hope seems to have faded. And, you know, right now it's really a matter of fielding telephone calls, going back and forth and talking about the possibilities of could there be some hope here. It doesn't appear that it is that way.

BLITZER: What we know is that this small plane belonged to Cory Lidle, and his passport was found on the streets of Manhattan around this apartment building. No one has confirmed officially yet that Cory Lidle was piloting this plane as it crashed into this apartment building on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Scott, why did Cory Lidle want to become a pilot? You are friends with him. You played golf with him. I assume you've spoken about this with him over the years.

GRAHAM: Oh, we spoke about it extensively. He absolutely was mesmerized by the idea of being a pilot. And he went at it and worked at it as quickly as anybody possibly could. I've heard you say a number of times this afternoon that it was -- a pilot's license was something that he got in the off-season last year, and he did. It came very quickly.

He was adamant about the fact that he was going to do it not only well, but safely. And he was very proud of the way he had handled himself in that process and was very proud the way that he had handled himself in flying a plane.

And then when he purchased his plane this year, over the course of this season, he was in a situation where he had to go back up with an instructor again to -- and please forgive my ignorance. I'm not exactly sure what the wording is, but he had to be rated again, I guess, is what you would say, on that plane.

And he was going at it as best he could during the course of a baseball season. There's a lot of demands that are put on your time as a pitcher. You have a few more days in between and, you know, the times that he would play golf were kind of going away, because those were times that he was going to devote toward becoming a better pilot. And it was something that he ...

BLITZER: Scott, hold on a second, because the NTSB, the National Transportation Safety Board is having a news conference in Virginia. Let's listen in.

DEBORAH HERSMAN, NTSB: The NTSB is in charge with investigating all civil aviation accidents in the United States. Shortly after the accident we organized a go team to launch the accident in New York City. We already have two regional investigators from our Parsippany office who are on the scene. We have an investigator on the 40th floor right now.

We have 10 people who are going to be departing here from Washington, D.C. from our headquarters. We are investigating the crash of a Cirrus SR-20, VIN number 929 Charlie delta. Cirrus SR-20 crashed into a high rise building this afternoon. According to the FAA's Web site, the aircraft has a registration pending to Mr. Cory Lidle. The on scene investigation is a fact-gathering exercise.

We will be working with the emergency responders on scene, the Federal Aviation Administration, the aircraft and the engine manufacturer when we arrive on scene. We are still gathering facts and we're working with other authorities who have additional information. When we have additional facts that we can share with you, we will hold briefings. We will begin our work this evening in New York City.

QUESTION: To your knowledge, was there any distress call made by the pilot?

HERSMAN: I don't have information about that at this time.

QUESTION: Do you have information about fatalities Debbie, on the ground? HERSMAN: We're still awaiting confirmation of any fatalities. We'd like to get on scene, we need to work with the local authorities to establish that information.

QUESTION: What do you know about the safety record of this --

HERSMAN: The question was about the safety record of this aircraft. We investigate each accident as an individual event. We're going to be looking at the circumstances of this accident and determine what happened in this case. This is a fairly new aircraft, a single engine. We have investigated other accidents involving this aircraft. That information is available on our Web site as I mentioned. We are charged with investigating all civil aviation accidents in this country.

QUESTION: How many members on your team? Can you tell us, you know, just the make-up of the team and how things are going to go when you arrive in New York?

HERSMAN: We're relying on our two regional investigators who are from our Parsippany office that are in New York right now. They've staked down the scene, they're working with the local officials and we have six investigators from our Washington office who are going to be departing shortly. They're going to be looking at power plants, systems, structures, operations, we'll be gathering maintenance records.

We'll be working with the FAA to get air traffic control information, radar data. We conduct very comprehensive investigations. We will be looking at all of the factors and it's a fact-gathering exercise. Thank you all very much and I'll see you in New York City.

QUESTION: Are you leaving right away?

HERSMAN: We will be leaving in a few minutes.

BLITZER: All right, that's it from the NTSB, the National Transportation Safety Board about to begin a major investigation into precisely what happened. Joining us here in THE SITUATION ROOM two former top officials of the NTSB, our old friend Bob Francis and Ben Berman who was a chief investigator for the NTSB. Bob, let me start with you. Go through the process now, what exactly happens because this investigation presumably is not just a matter of a few hours or days but this is weeks, even months.

BOB FRANCIS, FMR. NTSB VICE CHAIR: Yes, and I think Debbie was - she outlined a lot of it, the board team from Washington will go up, meet the team from New Jersey that's been over there. And they will start systematically to look at all of the factors. Obviously air traffic control is going to be one that's of major interest to them.

And this certainly who the pilot is, who as controlling the airplane. They'll want to go back and talk to witnesses at the airport. I understand they took off at Teterboro, they will certainly be interested in talking to people at Teterboro in terms of how were these people acting? Did they seem to know what they were doing when they -- What did they say where they were going, et cetera, et cetera.

BLITZER: One of the disadvantages, Ben, for a small plane like this, no so-called black boxes. The recorders that are so critical in investigating major plane crashes.

BEN BERMAN, FORMER NTSB INVESTIGATOR: Exactly. It's a shame that there won't be recorders in a situation like this. The first thing the NTSB investigators would be doing on the scene right now would be securing the recorders and getting them moved towards the laboratories to be read out.

BLITZER: The flight data recorders, the voice data recorders.

BERMAN: But in this case on a small airplane crash there aren't recorders and so the NTSB will have to use the radar data and they'll have to use some, maybe some high tech data sources that are beginning to become available on small plane accidents. This airplane would have been equipped with a global positioning system unit that might have recorded its track.

BLITZER: You listened to the mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg point out the track that he suggested this plane was flying, but you have some other information.

BERMAN: Well we showed a radar track for an airplane that left at about the same time as the accident airplane ...

BLITZER: Nearly 2:30, 2:25 taking off from Teterboro.

BERMAN: Right, and it seemed to go straight across Manhattan across Central Park before descending over the east side of Manhattan.

BLITZER: And that's restricted air space?

BERMAN: Yes. And Mayor Bloomberg described another radar track, so he has gotten information from the FAA of a different sort that shows the airplane leaving Teterboro's air space circling the Statue of Liberty and then coming up the East River. Now that would be a situation where you could finish speaking with Teterboro's air traffic control tower and then be on your own for maneuvering. So a slightly different situation and we'll have to see what the data show.

BLITZER: One of many questions that remain unanswered and this notion of a mayday signal that emerged from this small plane that would tell us that the pilot felt there were serious problems.

FRANCIS: Absolutely. And the question of whether it was legal or not is another -- it's fairly complicated in terms of altitudes as Ben says. So whether they were doing something they should have been doing, obviously not running into a building. But in that vicinity it may be that they were flying legally there.

BLITZER: The whole area though around Manhattan. I take it you can fly up and down the rivers, the East River or the Hudson River, but you can't necessarily fly over those high rises in Manhattan. Is that right? FRANCIS: It depends on what altitude you're at. Generally the lower you are interestingly the safer you are because you are trying to be cleared away from the big aircraft that are taking off and landing at the airports. So if you're staying under that, it's possible to be flying visual flight rules and legally flying over Central Park. People can do that.

BLITZER: Does this look then like it's going to be a complicated investigation for the NTSB?

BERMAN: It's a little bit hard to tell right now. Of course without recorders that adds tremendously to the complexity. But it may turn out that with the data available, they can pretty much tell what happened. But a lot of the times you can tell what happened but you can't tell why it happened.

BLITZER: All the conversations though between the cockpit and the FAA, the air traffic controllers, all of that is kept on tape? So there will be a history of that?

FRANCIS: Yes. This plane will talk to Teterboro control tower before it left. So it wasn't --

BLITZER: Even though there was no voice recorder in the cockpit, any conversations he had with the control tower, the control tower will have that?

FRANCIS: Yes. And the fact that it is such a recently produced airplane full of very advanced avionics, there may be a number of things that they can pull out of that.

BLITZER: This Cirrus, I don't know if you're familiar with this plane Ben or Bob, SR-20. Miles O'Brien our CNN anchor who himself is a licensed pilot and has an SR-22, which is a similar model. This is one of the few small planes that actually has a parachute, right, that you could hit a button presumably and the parachute will safely allow you to float down, you're familiar with this. We are going to show our viewers an animation of how that works. Why wouldn't he have, if he knew he was in trouble and he was sending out a mayday call, simply hit that button and let that parachute go out.

BERMAN: You know one can't really speculate on the answer to that. I mean it may have been something that happened so fast that he didn't think about it, who knows.

FRANCIS: The only thing we can say right now is that there have been several saves made by that parachute system already, several cases in which an airplane had engine trouble or loss of control and the pilot successfully deployed the parachute and no one was injured.

BLITZER: So this parachute is a worthwhile added feature for a small plane like this?

BERMAN: It's been successful and yet there have also been several instances on a Cirrus airplane where the parachute was not deployed where maybe it could have been. And so the situations like Bob is speaking about where distraction or overload of the person, stress or whatever they don't manage to deploy the parachute.

BLITZER: But if there was a pilot and an instructor, two individuals presumably, the notion of someone not hitting the button, there is also the possibility of malfunction of the parachute.

FRANCIS: Well and they may think that in that kind of an environment with a lot of buildings around that it wasn't a safe thing to do that they thought they could get through somewhere if they went out over the river and then deploy the parachute over the river.

BLITZER: Stand by for a moment, our Brian Todd is outside the NTSB where this news conference just occurred. Brian, what are you picking up?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Picking up Wolf the headline from this is that they have no information about a distress call. I know we've been getting conflicting information about a possible distress call. NTSB officials just a moment ago said they have no information on that. They did give the number of the plane's tail registration 929 Charlie Delta they said was the number on that tail.

And they also said they're going to be looking for features in the area that the plane was flying near like power plants. Obviously what these two gentlemen were just saying, they're going to be looking at radar data, a lot of other things, you've just heard that from them.

But the NTSB team, six investigators from Washington leaving at the moment, probably leaving as we speak right now. They're going to meet with the NTSB team that is on the scene there. They did say that a team of NTSB people is on the ground in fact in the apartment building on that 40th floor right now -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Brian. Thanks very much. Stand by, Tom Verducci of our sister publication "Sports Illustrated" who first told us about Cory Lidle, that this plane was registered and that he was the owner of this plane. He's joining us from Oakland. You're getting some more information Tom, what are you picking up?

TOM VERDUCCI, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED: Well, obviously the Yankees are shocked about this development Wolf and phone calls are being made among players and the manager confirming that in fact it is true. And this is a team Wolf, you have to remember, they thought things were bad when they lost the division series. This obviously as the Manager Joe Torre said puts things very much so in perspective.

Let's also remember too, I'm here in Oakland where the American League Championship series game is being played tonight, game two. The Oakland A's, they're one of Cory Lidle's former teams, it's the team where he had the most success. He has a lot of friends on this team. Those players will be playing tonight certainly with some heavy hearts.

BLITZER: It's a sensitive subject for the Yankees. Thurman Munsen, a lot of us remember, he was killed in a plane crash, a former Yankee, what was that, back in 1979, Tom? VERDUCCI: Yes, and the interesting thing is that both of them used Teterboro Airport as a place to keep their planes. In both cases, the team was not happy about the fact that these players did fly planes themselves. It's not uncommon these days with the money that players make that they hire jet charter services to take them home when they have days off and they can go back and forth between home and their home city.

But for Cory Lidle, the fact that he was flying was much more than just a basic commute for him. He flew because he loved to fly. Why do runners run or painters paint? Well Cory loved to fly. He jumped into this with all the enthusiasm that he had for pitching as well. If you knew Cory Lidle, you saw him around the Yankees, you were pretty much going to see him with a smile on his face. His two passions were really baseball and flying.

BLITZER: Tom, thanks very much. Tom Verducci of "Sports Illustrated." Mary Snow our correspondent in New York is reporting that the plane actually impacted this building. The Belaire on the east side of Manhattan, you see it right now between the 30th and the 31st floor, a 50-story building at 72nd and York on the east side of upper Manhattan. Bob Francis, as we wrap up our coverage this hour, your bottom line is what?

FRANCIS: My bottom line is that in a situation like this, you really got to wait and start to get some evidence in. You have to give the NTSB some time. You can speculate about people -- all sorts of things. But I don't think there's enough evidence to indicate whether there's a mechanical failure or some sort of sickness or you know ...

BLITZER: Is that your bottom line as well?

BERMAN: I agree. And I think right now we don't know really what is involved in this yet. But as it stands now, this is quite similar to an automobile accident. The airplane's about the same size and weight as an automobile and about 400 people are killed every year in small plane crashes quite similar to the thousands and thousands killed every year in automobiles. Have to make both safer but its private people doing their private thing.

BLITZER: Sad, sad story indeed. Ben Berman thanks very much for coming in. Bob Francis, always good to have you in THE SITUATION ROOM. Unfortunately I wish it were under different circumstances.

Once again, we've been following this story throughout much of this afternoon. A small plane crashing into a high rise building, a residential building, the upper side of Manhattan on the east side of Manhattan. Confirmed two individuals dead. The small plane belonging to a picture for the New York Yankees, Cory Lidle.

Stay with CNN, we'll have much more in THE SITUATION ROOM in an hour. But Kitty Pilgrim is picking up our coverage of this breaking news -- Kitty.

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