Cory Lidle 1972-2006

Lidle Dies In Plane Crash


The Cory Lidle crash death news kind of comes as a spooky surprise. Only a month ago, he was interviewed about his piloting licence and his small plane by the NYT and now he is gone. In the piece, they made a reference to Thurman Munson and Lidle outlined how safe the plane was.

A player-pilot is still a sensitive topic for the Yankees, whose captain, Thurman Munson, was killed in the crash of a plane he was flying in 1979. Lidle, acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies on July 30, said his plane was safe.

“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.”

Well, so much for that system when the plane simply hits a building.

The plane was registered to Mr. Lidle, who was a licensed pilot. At a news conference this afternoon, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that a flight instructor and a student pilot with 75 hours of experience were aboard and killed, but he would not confirm that Mr. Lidle was one of them, saying the families of the victims had not yet been notified.

“No bodies were found in the building,” the mayor said, adding that 11 firefighters were also injured in the fire.

He said that the plane left Teterboro Airport in New Jersey at about 2:30 p.m., circled the Statue of Liberty and then headed north up the East River, where it “had not violated any air traffic control rules.”

Condolences to the Lidle family and the family of the other victim.