NEW YORK-The U.N. Security Council stepped out of the limelight on Wednesday after news that a small aircraft had crashed into a luxury high-rise apartment building in Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
The two known passengers aboard the aircraft were New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle and a flight instructor, both declared dead by local authorities. The plane was a four-seated, single-engine Cirrus SR20 registered to Lidle. The two passengers reportedly set out for a leisure trip that afternoon, taking off from a suburban New Jersey airport. The plane flew around the Statue of Liberty and then north along the East River.
But the plane incurred complications “just moments after passing above the 59th Street Bridge,” according to The Associated press. The flight lasted a mere “20 minutes, with a 911 call about a fire coming in around 2:45pm.”
Lidle, 34, had openly expressed his fascination with aviation to family and friends. But the sports community was shocked to learn that the baseball player’s well-known hobby resulted in death. Derek Jeter and other Yankee players expressed their deep condolences to Lidle’s wife and six-year-old son.
But before any concrete facts reached news airwaves, initial images of the incident appeared uncomfortably familiar to some New Yorkers who witnessed the World Trade Center terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Flames engulfed the building’s region of impact, creating thick ascending smoke clouds that overlooked unidentified debris on the sidewalk below. Local authorities promptly contained the fire, and local authorities notified that the incident was not a terrorist attack. But in spite of reassurances by the government, a mood of uncertainty and unease permeated the 72nd Street bystanders.
New York City Mayor Bloomberg held a press conference later that afternoon, confirming that the incident was not an act of terror.
“I don’t think this has anything to do with the security of New York City’s airspace”, said Bloomberg. “Sadly an accident like this cost two people their lives, but I don’t know that there’s any great significance.”
And while rumors that the incident was an act of terrorism have been declared false, the simple fact that a terrorist act was suspected at all signals a significant change in the American national psyche. When two jet airliners dove straight into the Twin Towers, terrorism was barely a part of the American lexicon. New Yorkers stood across the street from what is now Ground Zero, certain that the towers’ grandiose structures would withstand the force of a jet plane.
“We just stayed in our apartment when the planes hit”, recounts Janette McKinlay, who lived adjacent to the World Trade Center on September 11. “At first all I thought about was how to keep the dust out of the living room.”
But now, the sense of invincibility is a far reach for many New Yorkers. Terror alerts have become as ornamental as weather forecasts, and the potential use of weapons of mass destruction are taken seriously by subway riders. The fear of terrorism following this past Wednesday’s incident is a telling example of the changing awareness amongst Americans.
“When I saw the smoke and found out there was a plane I immediately froze”, said Lucy Stanton, who witnessed the scene immediately following the plan crash. “I mean, it looked small, but I thought ‘what if?’”
Melorine Mokri
Please also see:
9/11 Fifth Anniversary
http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout4.php&id=2598&blz=1
The two known passengers aboard the aircraft were New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle and a flight instructor, both declared dead by local authorities. The plane was a four-seated, single-engine Cirrus SR20 registered to Lidle. The two passengers reportedly set out for a leisure trip that afternoon, taking off from a suburban New Jersey airport. The plane flew around the Statue of Liberty and then north along the East River.
But the plane incurred complications “just moments after passing above the 59th Street Bridge,” according to The Associated press. The flight lasted a mere “20 minutes, with a 911 call about a fire coming in around 2:45pm.”
Lidle, 34, had openly expressed his fascination with aviation to family and friends. But the sports community was shocked to learn that the baseball player’s well-known hobby resulted in death. Derek Jeter and other Yankee players expressed their deep condolences to Lidle’s wife and six-year-old son.
But before any concrete facts reached news airwaves, initial images of the incident appeared uncomfortably familiar to some New Yorkers who witnessed the World Trade Center terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Flames engulfed the building’s region of impact, creating thick ascending smoke clouds that overlooked unidentified debris on the sidewalk below. Local authorities promptly contained the fire, and local authorities notified that the incident was not a terrorist attack. But in spite of reassurances by the government, a mood of uncertainty and unease permeated the 72nd Street bystanders.
New York City Mayor Bloomberg held a press conference later that afternoon, confirming that the incident was not an act of terror.
“I don’t think this has anything to do with the security of New York City’s airspace”, said Bloomberg. “Sadly an accident like this cost two people their lives, but I don’t know that there’s any great significance.”
And while rumors that the incident was an act of terrorism have been declared false, the simple fact that a terrorist act was suspected at all signals a significant change in the American national psyche. When two jet airliners dove straight into the Twin Towers, terrorism was barely a part of the American lexicon. New Yorkers stood across the street from what is now Ground Zero, certain that the towers’ grandiose structures would withstand the force of a jet plane.
“We just stayed in our apartment when the planes hit”, recounts Janette McKinlay, who lived adjacent to the World Trade Center on September 11. “At first all I thought about was how to keep the dust out of the living room.”
But now, the sense of invincibility is a far reach for many New Yorkers. Terror alerts have become as ornamental as weather forecasts, and the potential use of weapons of mass destruction are taken seriously by subway riders. The fear of terrorism following this past Wednesday’s incident is a telling example of the changing awareness amongst Americans.
“When I saw the smoke and found out there was a plane I immediately froze”, said Lucy Stanton, who witnessed the scene immediately following the plan crash. “I mean, it looked small, but I thought ‘what if?’”
Melorine Mokri
Please also see:
9/11 Fifth Anniversary
http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout4.php&id=2598&blz=1