FAN says that he was killed in the crash.

This is seriously f----d up.

I think I missed something in my run from the car to the house. Verducci is saying Corey "was" now. Has this been confirmed?

CNN says Lidle was the pilot and there was one other passenger.

They just said on the news that the plane was registered to Cory Lidle.

MSNBC says his passport was found on the street underneath the crash.

Ugh. Just ugh.

Lidle confirmed dead.

Bizarre and very sad.

Michael Kay just said Lidle confirmed dead.

Yikes.

This is REALLY ###### up.

Holy ####.

I know it sounds trite, but all my prayers to his family and friends and the Yankee organization.

NY1 is now showing footage of Lidle getting lit up against the Tigers. Nice.

I'm on 74th and York at a friends place. Walked down a while ago to check out the smoke. Kinda boring.

Wow.

Can't think of anything else to say.

Wow. My condolences to Cory's family.

Wow. Just... wow. Weird.

I'm not really paying a lot of attention. Are you guys serious?

Not that BTF posters would joke about such a thing.

Yes, that's just awful. It was awful anyway, but being able to put a face and personality to the news somehow brings it home. Terrible news.

From today's Mets game chatter:

15. Rob Base Posted: October 11, 2006 at 04:42 PM (#2207211)

I heard Steinbrenner paid the pilot's family $30,000...

Can we all agree never to respond to anything this ####### says on these boards in the future, and to otherwise shun him in all wasy possible?

One of the last things he did was get berated by Mike & The Mad Dog.

This is terrible.

Fox News and ESPN are reporting Lidle was the pilot. He was the only one on board...as of now, he and three people in the building are reported dead.

I'm stunned. Stunned. RIP Cory.

WHAT?

One of the last things he did was get berated by Mike & The Mad Dog

Who will they blame now?

Ok. Sorry. I really thought it was some sort of sick Yankee inside joke because, I mean no way it's really Cory Lidle right?

Holy ####. Very sad and my condolences to anyone with connections to Lidle who might be reading.

So, I know it's early but...suicide or accident?

Holy ####. This is ####### crazy. I really don't know what to say.

I remember watching TV (GILLIGAN'S ISLAND) on the afternoon of August 2, 1979 when the news broke in that Munson was dead. I'm getting deja vu right now.

Spooky story. Very spooky.

From all the eyewitness descriptions it sounds like an accident, possibly an engine stall.

So, I know it's early but...suicide or accident?

What I heard was that the airplane was doing somersaults in midair, so I'd guess accident.

It's very hard to call for a non-emergency ambulance in New York right now.

My God in heaven this is horrible. My first thought was "was this a suicide?". Oh my God. I'm just stunned.

Holy ####. This is so bizarre. And extremely sad.

So, I know it's early but...suicide or accident?

I saw a report that there had been a distress call about a plane having fuel problems. I think that's probably what this was.

No one commits suicide by flying a plane into a building (OK, terrorists excluded).

Google news says nothing about this if you search "Cory Lidle" FWIW

Man, this really makes me think about life. What if Bobby Abrue hits a few more HRs, the Philles are closer to contention in July then the Abreu trade talks never happen, Lidle stays in Philly and he doesnt fly out of NY/Teterboro, NJ this October.
Damn

To those who know about flying...
how does this happen? Was the plane totally out of control? I'd assume any flight plan would keep him way the hell away from the skyscrapers of Manhatten

What a bizarre, sad story. The timing, right after the Yanks' playoff exit, makes it seem even more macabre.

He just got his pilot's license earlier this year.

An observer interviewed on CNN said the plane was "zig-zagging down". I doubt it was a suicide.

No one commits suicide by flying a plane into a building (OK, terrorists excluded).

There was that wacked out kid in Florida who did kill himself by flying an airplane into a building in 2001 or so.

Everything points to accident.

former Yankee player?

Sad news.

First Thurman, now Lidle. Jesus. Condolences to his family and friends, obviously. I always liked him, even though he did cross the line. Are we sure that he died? there's some kind of parachute inside the plane, according to CNN.

Can we all agree never to respond to anything this ####### says on these boards in the future, and to otherwise shun him in all wasy possible?

Van, as I said on the game chatter thread, I posted that before this news was announced (or at least before I heard it on WFAN). Obviously that looks terrible now, and I've asked J. Furtado to take it down.

Man, this really makes me think about life. What if Bobby Abrue hits a few more HRs, the Philles are closer to contention in July then the Abreu trade talks never happen, Lidle stays in Philly and he doesnt fly out of NY/Teterboro, NJ this October.
Damn

It was self important bluster when George said it, but the Yankees' elimination from the playoffs now really is a sad failure. Lidle would have been sitting in the bullpen tonight if the Yankees had beaten the Tigers.

More on this terrible story...

Mike & Dog calling for MLB to call off Met game.

NYT, 9/8.

What a career BTW. From replacement player, to briefly a star when he had that 2nd half run for the As, to the bane of Arthur Rhodes existance, to center of NY media scrutiny post-playoffs, to this.

"The only thing Cory Lidle wants to do is fly around in his airplane and gamble."-Arthur Rhodes in July or Aug.

Lidle also ran a charity poker tourney.

Fittingly, i guess, he died after crossing the river that his great granddad first sailed a steamboat down

To those who know about flying...
how does this happen?
.
.
.

He just got his pilot's license earlier this year.

That's how. If he was having fuel problems, that in itself should not cause him to fly out of control. But getting distracted tending the problem would. One of the hardest things to learn is that in an emergency, the most important rule is maintain aircraft control. I taught flying in the Air Force for 6 years, and I can't count how many times in the simulator I would program in a simple malfunction and the student would fly into a mountain while readin his checklist.

When I read about this on another site, I thought it was some sort of macabre joke about the Yankee post-season failure.

What a career BTW. From replacement player, to briefly a star when he had that 2nd half run for the As, to the bane of Arthur Rhodes existance, to center of NY media scrutiny post-playoffs, to this.

"The only thing Cory Lidle wants to do is fly around in his airplane and gamble."-Arthur Rhodes in July or Aug.

Lidle also ran a charity poker tourney.

Fittingly, i guess, he died after crossing the river that his great granddad first sailed a steamboat down

"The only thing Cory Lidle wants to do is fly around in his airplane and gamble." - Arthur Rhodes, August 2 2006.

Farewell, Cory Lidle. We hardly knew you.

Matt Drudge, a/k/a Mr. Sensitivity, has this headline on his site:

YANKS PITCHER PLOWS PLANE INTO NYC HIGH-RISE

Is the weather bad in NY today? Maybe that had something to do with it.

if the fuel flow cuts out and the engine stalls your pretty ######

I don't get the timeline of Base's joke, which is now in poor taste. So, he heard a plane crashed, and for some reason said "Stenibrenner paid 30K to the pilot's family." Then, in the unlikeliest scenario possible, it turned out to actually be Lidle's plane?

I just don't see at what point in the development of this story that comment could be made and not be very wrong.

The weather is raining now in NY, but it was just cloudy at the time the crash happened.

In some ways, this is as shocking as the Munson crash because of all of the speculation concerning a terrorist act.

RIP

Meat's handle is unfortunately fitting ....

Is the weather bad in NY today? Maybe that had something to do with it.

It was gray. but not stormy or particularly inclement.

I post links & such about missing or downed planes all the time (I'm online editor for the Civil Air Patrol), but this ... this is too damned bizarre for words.

Condolences to all involved.

It was foggy, and visibility was limited.

To those who know about flying...
how does this happen?

"Visual flight into meteoroligical conditions" is #1 proximate cause of fatal accidents. News reports said it was cloudy?

Wsahington D.C.

White house correspondents have confirmed that President Bush has been informed of the situation. Early reports indicate that immediate plans have been made for a full-scale invasion of Yankistan.

what's weird (and sadly ironic with current speculation over why the crash occurred) is this snippet taken from the NYT article linked above:

“The whole plane has a parachute on it,” Lidle 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.”

I wonder if he felt he couldn't deploy the parachute because he was over the city.

When it first broke into programming, all detail was sketchy. I'm sure I'm not the only one to have looked at the building on fire and immediately thought "tragic".

I just now heard on the news that the plane was registered to Lidle, but that they weren't confirming or denying reports of his death until they get "official" confirmation.

I watched coverage for much of the afternoon. Eyewitness accounts are all over the place from "certain it was a helicopter" to "made a sharp turn, lost control and crashed".

Reports are that the plane was not being governed by authorities, but was flying according to "sight" rules of aviation.

But what relatively inexperienced pilot (if he just got his license as is stated above) takes the risk of flying in and out of buildings in Manhattan? Wouldn't a more natural choice be to fly over the river with fewer obstacles?

How bad was his particular performance in the playoffs? Could he have been JUST that depressed, especially if being berated on the radio?

People commit suicide in a million different ways. This is one of them. The reason you don't hear about it happening is because MOST suicide victims don't have access to planes and don't have an education to fly them. The Average Joe can't just hop into a plane and get it off the ground... but he CAN turn the car on in a closed garage and enjoy his last beer as he dies.

It's a dramatic way to go... one the whole world will repeatedly see. One that will start threads like this.

Pardon me for saying this but I hope every player who gave Lidle a hard time for being a "scab" is having a good long look at themselves. The strike was about money, Lidle was a human life--and only one of these two commodities is replaceable.

Any money lost during the strike can be earned back, any harsh words to Lidle can now never be taken back.

Condolences to the Lidle family and friends.

Best Regards

John

This is terribly ironic, but if memory serves me right:

Mariano Rivera commented (this was quoted in Olney's Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty) that in some ways he was glad that the Yanks lost game 7 of 2001 WS, since Enrique Wilson had scheduled his return to the Dominican (assuming a Yankee victory) in AA Flight 587 which crashed into the Belle Harbor neighborhood of Queens after takeoff on November 12th, 2001.

http://proxy.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=olney_buster&id=2051491

that 9/8 article from the NYT is eerie. RIP, Cory and my condolences to his family and friends.

But what relatively inexperienced pilot (if he just got his license as is stated above) takes the risk of flying in and out of buildings in Manhattan? Wouldn't a more natural choice be to fly over the river with fewer obstacles?

This building is way over by the East River. If he were flying over the river, away from the obstacles, and lost control, this is where he'd strike a building. It's not like he hit a building on Lexington or Madison or something.

My condolences to Mr. Lidle's family.

But what relatively inexperienced pilot (if he just got his license as is stated above) takes the risk of flying in and out of buildings in Manhattan? Wouldn't a more natural choice be to fly over the river with fewer obstacles?

You can't fly in and out of buildings. Since 9/11 they've had severe controls on where you can fly in the NYC area. I learned this from Inside the Actor's Studio with John Travolta, where he and the host reminsced about scenic place trips around the NYC skyline that they'll never be able to take again. As you can see I know almost nothing about this, but he must have had all sorts of problems to be anywhere close to the Manhattan buildings.

I've also heard that pride prevents most pilots from using a crash as suicide - even though they'd likely get their families insurance money.

The pilots here may be able to speculate better about that. Thanks for the info re: suicide guys. I hope it was an accident. Dead is dead but I'd rather think he was out having fun than depressed and wanting to die. I mean, I'd rather think that of any death.

ESPN is reporting that another person was in the plane with Lidle.

RIP Cory.

I sometimes step over the lines but undoubtedly any smart alleck comment is in bad taste.

This is depressing and unbelievable.

RIP Cory.

Is the weather bad in NY today? Maybe that had something to do with it.

According to CNN's Miles O'Brien (who is very knowledgable about flying. he mau be a pilot), the ceiling was 1800 feet with 8 miles vis, and VFR flying under LGA's airspace is limited to 1,000, so it would appear weather was not a factor.

if the fuel flow cuts out and the engine stalls your pretty ######

Yes and no. All planes have some limited glide capability, and pilots are trained in emergency landing procedures. In any case, there would be no reason to lose control and crash into a building if handeled properly. My guess is that he either:

1) got distracted handling the problem, or

2) did not handle the power out situation properly and stalled.

1.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER

That sucks, but an accident is still a lot more likely than a suicide.

Man, this really makes me think about life. What if Bobby Abrue hits a few more HRs, the Philles are closer to contention in July then the Abreu trade talks never happen, Lidle stays in Philly and he doesnt fly out of NY/Teterboro, NJ this October.

Someone on ESPN said that he has used Teterboro as his home field all along.

AP reports Lidle was on the plane.

I've also heard that pride prevents most pilots from using a crash as suicide - even though they'd likely get their families insurance money.

I don't think his family needed the money.

The last image of Lidle most fans saw was this Saturday's game, in FOX's trademark full-frame Closeup-O-Vision, mopping up after Jaret Wright blew the game in Detroit.

This news really is shocking. RIP.

I don't get the timeline of Base's joke, which is now in poor taste. So, he heard a plane crashed, and for some reason said "Stenibrenner paid 30K to the pilot's family."

Saadam Hussein used to pay the families of suidcide bombers 30K...

Just did a quick NTSB search on fatal General Aviation accidents since 1/1/2001. Out of 1659 results, a total of 48 had suicide mentioned in probable cause. Never thought it would be that high.

His wife was on a commercial flight, so we know that the other passenger wasn't her.

Lidle -- along with his twin brother Kevin, a former minor league catcher -- was a high school (and then Oakland Athletics) teammate of Jason Giambi.

RIP Cory.

RIP the three poor nameless souls killed in their homes.

Our local weather guy (I'm in Detroit, BTW) has the same kind of plane. He explained that a parachute the size of a house can be deployed at the first sign of trouble and while it would destroy the plane, lives are inevitably saved in a mechanical failure.

He also said that this kind of plane is super fast and is "technologically advanced" as far as others go... he likened the cockpit to that of a lear jet.

My assumption is that the plane is probably not old enough to have such serious mechanical problems.

Then, we need to look at maintenance records, etc.

How did Lidle's passport make it all the way to the ground instead of burning in the crash? Why would he even HAVE his passport if he was just tooling around NYC?

Weather: Visibility was 7 miles.

That was not meant to read as speculation that Jason Giambi (or Kevin Lidle, for that matter) was the other passenger.

Pardon me for saying this but I hope every player who gave Lidle a hard time for being a "scab" is having a good long look at themselves. The strike was about money, Lidle was a human life--and only one of these two commodities is replaceable.

I'm sorry. This makes no sense and has no place in the here and now.

You're using his death to make a political point.

The NY Times wrote about Lidle and his plane a month ago.

“The whole plane has a parachute on it,” Lidle 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.”

Apparently two dead in the crash, and not four as originally reported.

1.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER

That sucks, but an accident is still a lot more likely than a suicide.

Since nobody was pointing fingers at him as a Yankee goat, I would be shocked if he commited suicide over his pitching.

AFAIAC, unless reports to the contrary, this is just an accident.

My assumption is that the plane is probably not old enough to have such serious mechanical problems.

Does it have multiple fuel tanks which need to be switched manually? That is a very common cause of accidents among inexperienced pilots; running a tank dry and forgetting to switch.

As to the passport, maybe he kept it in his plane for possible flights to Canada (which is not that far away from NYC)

CNN said the other passenger was a flight instructor? I only heard it once, so I don't know if that was presented as fact.

My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

If Lidle was a HS teammate of Giambi's can we get a quote from Giambi - if only to prove he wasn't in the plane.

CNN said the other passenger was a flight instructor? I only heard it once, so I don't know if that was presented as fact.

This on CNN.com

"• NEW: Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle only person aboard plane, FBI said"

RIP the three poor nameless souls killed in their homes.

East Side, middle of the day, they might have been hired help. It really would suck to be a martyr to clean floors.

Suicide? Quite a ridiculous speculation. Why not crash into the ocean as a suicide? Why endanger innocent people?

CNN is reporting that Lidle was the only person on the plane.

You're using his death to make a political point.

No, I think John was making the point that life is far more important than political squabbles, and if we want to heap scorn on others, we would be wise not to take doing so lightly.

Good god, I hate the Yankees but that doesn't mean I want them killed. My condolences to him and his teammates, and the families of those killed in the crash.

First Munson, now this.

I wish baseball players wouldn't fly their own planes.

Ken Hubbs too.

How awful. Rest in peace, Cory.