UPDATE: WASHINGTON -- A law enforcement official has told The Associated Press that a member of the New York Yankees organization was aboard the plane that crashed into a New York City high-rise. And FAA records show the plane was registered to pitcher Cory Lidle.
Full story: NEW YORK -- A small plane crashed into a 50-story condominium tower Wednesday on Manhattan's Upper East Side, raining flaming debris onto the sidewalks below and rattling New Yorkers' nerves five years after the Sept. 11 attack. Police said at least two people were killed.\nThe FBI and the Homeland Security Department said there was no evidence it was a terrorist attack. "The initial indication is that there is a terrible accident," Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said. Nevertheless, fighter jets were sent aloft over U.S. cities as a precaution, the Pentagon said.\nThe twin-engine plane came through a hazy, cloudy sky and hit the 20th floor of The Belaire _ a red-brick tower overlooking the East River, about five miles from the World Trade Center _ with a loud bang, touching off a raging fire that cast a pillar of black smoke over the city and sent flames shooting from four windows on two adjoining floors.\nFirefighters shot water streams of water at the flames from the floors below and put the blaze out in less than an hour.\nLarge crowds gathered in the street in the largely wealthy New York neighborhood, with many people in tears and some trying to reach loved ones by cell phone.\n"I was worried the building would explode, so I got out of there fast," said Lori Claymont, who fled an adjoining building in sweatpants.\nPolice said two people were killed, but they did not say whether they died aboard the plane or on the ground.\nYoung May Cha, a 23-year-old Cornell University medical student, said she was walking back from the grocery store down 72nd Street when she saw an object out of the corner of her eye.\n"I just saw something come across the sky and crash into that building," she said. Cha said there appeared to be smoke coming from behind the aircraft, and "it looked like it was flying erraticaly for the short time that I saw it."\n"The explosion was very small. I was not threatened for my life," she added.\nRichard Drutman, a professional photographer who lives on the 11th floor, said he was talking on the telephone when he felt the building shake.\n"There was a huge explosion. I looked out my window, and saw what appeared to be pieces of wings, on fire, falling from the sky," Drutman said. He and his girlfriend quickly evacuated the building.\nThe Federal Aviation Administration said it was too early to determine what type of aircraft was involved, or what might have caused the crash.\nThe plane left New Jersey's Teterboro Airport, just across the Hudson River from the city, at 2:30 p.m., about 15 minutes before the crash, according to officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport. But they said they did not where the aircraft was headed.\nFAA spokeswoman Diane Spitaliere said the plane was apparently not in contact with air traffic controllers; pilots flying small planes by sight are not required to be in contact.\nThe National Transportation Safety Board sent a team to investigate.\nFormer NTSB director Jim Hall said in a telephone interview he doesn't understand how a plane could get so close to a New York City building after Sept. 11.\n"We're under a high alert and you would assume that if something like this happened, people would have known about it before it occurred, not after," Hall said.\nMystery writer Carol Higgins Clark, daughter of author Mary Higgins Clark, lives on the 38th floor and was coming home in a cab when she saw the smoke. "Thank goodness I wasn't at my apartment writing at the time," she said. She described the building's residents as a mix of actors, doctors, lawyers and writers, and people with second homes.\nSgt. Claudette Hutchinson, a spokeswoman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado Springs, Colo., said fighter jets "are airborne over numerous U.S. cities and while every indication is that this is an accident, we see this as a prudent measure at this time."\nHowever, all three New York City-area airports continued to operate normally, FAA spokesman Jim Peters said. In Washington, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said neither President Bush nor Vice President Dick Cheney was moved to secure locations.\n"All indications are that is an unfortunate accident," said Yolanda Clark, a spokeswoman for Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration. She said there was "no specific or credible intelligence suggesting an imminent threat to the homeland, at this time."\nThe crash struck fear in a city devastated by the attacks of Sept. 11 five years ago. Sirens echoed across the neighborhood as about 170 firefighters rushed in along with emergency workers and ambulances. Broken glass and debris were strewn around the neighborhood.\n"There's a sense of helplessness," said Sandy Teller, watching from his apartment a block away. "Cots and gurneys, waiting. It's a mess."\nThe tower was built in the late 1980s and is situated near Sotheby's auction house. It has 183 apartments, many of which sell for more than $1 million.\nSeveral lower floors are occupied by doctors and administrative offices, as well as guest facilities for family members of patients at the Hospital for Special Surgery, hospital spokeswoman Phyllis Fisher said.\nNo patients were in the high-rise building and operations at the hospital a block away were not affected, Fisher said.
