FAA bans fixed-wing planes from N.Y. path

Fiery wreckage
The plane was cruising at 112 mph at 700 feet as it began to make a U-turn. It was last seen on radar about a quarter-mile north of the building, in the middle of the turn, at 500 feet, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

The crash rained pieces of fiery wreckage on the street and sidewalk.

Workers in hard hats collected pieces of the wreckage Thursday and placed the charred debris neatly on a silver-colored tarp in the bed of a pickup truck as neighborhood children gathered to gawk at the jagged and twisted metal, glass shards and wheels.

Crews recovered the nose, wings, tail and instrument panel of the four-seat plane, as well as a hand-held GPS device. The workers conducted an exhaustive, floor-by-floor sweep of the building, including terraces and ledges, NTSB spokeswoman Debbie Hersman said.

Residents also began returning to their scorch-marked tower. One witness recalled the terrifying sight of a charred body amid the plane wreckage strewn on the street.

“It was in a fetal position, strapped into a seat. I could see a white leg sticking up. It was awful,” said maintenance worker Juan Rosario.

‘See you in a week’
Stanger, 26, operated a flight school in La Verne, Calif., and had a wife and young child. He and Lidle apparently planned to fly from New York to California this week.

“They were going to fly back together. It was right after the (Yankees’) loss to Detroit,” said Dave Conriguez, who works at the airport coffee shop near Stanger’s flight school. “Tyler’s such a great flight instructor that I never gave it a second thought. It was just, ’See you in a week.”’

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Lidle, 34, lived with his pregnant wife and 6-year-old son in Glendora, Calif., outside Los Angeles. He got his pilot’s license during the off-season last year.

New York-based flight instructor Stanley Ferber said the low-altitude airspace in and around the city is bustling with “a myriad of helicopters and planes.” The city’s heliports handle an estimated 88,000 takeoffs and landings a year.

“As a pilot, you always have to be on your toes, but it is not a tight situation,” Ferber said. “In all the time of my flying over New York, I’ve never had anything like a close call.”

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a recreational pilot with decades of experience, said he believes the skies are safe under the current rules.

“We have very few accidents for an awful lot of traffic,” he said. “Every time you have an automobile accident, you’re not going to go and close the streets or prohibit people from driving.”

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