Tragically, Cory Lidle and his flight instructor died yesterday afternoon when the Cirrus SR-20 airplane that they were flying crashed into a high rise building in New York City. {Added 11/19/06} The New York Times has created a wonderfully informative, interactive graphic showing the flight path.
AVweb’s article, New York City Crash Aftermath, nicely brings together the facts as we now know them, less than 24 hours after the accident. I have my own theories (which I will not share in print) but I am going to take the conservative approach and wait for the NTSB to publish its own fact-based analysis.
The gut reaction which comes up after any small airplane accident is: Is general aviation safe? The answer is yes and we need to keep working to make it safer. Sure, there is risk in flying an airplane. There is also risk in driving a car or walking across the street. Most of us agree that the risk is small and well worthwhile.
