NYC high-rise plane crash probe yields more questions than answers

A day after New York Yankees Pitcher Cory Lidle's single-engine plane crashed into a high-rise in Manhattan, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators spent the day Thursday documenting

News 12 Staff

May 29, 2014, 7:00 PM

Updated 3,754 days ago

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A day after New York Yankees Pitcher Cory Lidle's single-engine plane crashed into a high-rise in Manhattan, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators spent the day Thursday documenting the scene and sifting through debris.
The NTSB say it has recovered the plane?s engine, propeller, nose, wings and tail. Investigators say they also found Lidle's pilot logbook. The logbook showed there were 88 hours of total flight time and 47 hours were of pilot in command. NTSB officials say there is no confirmation that the pilot of the plane issued a mayday call before hitting the high-rise. Investigators say it could take up to a year before they know exactly what happened.
New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly also identified the second victim in the crash. He was 26-year-old Tyler Stanger, a flight instructor who operated a flight school out of La Verne, California.
The crash into the 50-story skyscraper has prompted critics to call for new Federal Aviation Adminstration (FAA) restrictions regarding the airspace around Manhattan. The FAA has ordered all planes flying below 1,500 feet be temporarily put under authorization. Govenor George Pataki (R-NY) wants that restriction put in place indefinitely, however, Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R-New York) does not echo that call.
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