Peter R. wrote:

Blasto wrote:


Thanks Peter and others for your answers. I'm no pilot, just trying to
understand. Sadly I'm incapacitated by effects of
cancer/cancer-treatment


Wow, I am very sorry to read this. My thoughts are with you.


and I basically lie about looking out my 20th
floor window over the Hudson at the Holland Tunnel. It's a rare day I
don't flinch at least once from a small plane or chopper suddenly
looming what seems to be a bit too large in my window...


Not something that you are able to get used to, but rest assured that those
pilots are very alert to the surrounding buildings in that area. This is
especially notable of the helicopter pilots, who fly that airspace many
times a day.

snip

You folks
in your flying machines represent that to me, and any assault on your
freedoms would need to be justified by a much denser history of mishaps
than exists to date.


I have read of airplanes experiencing engine failure that resulted in a
ditching in the Hudson, but AFAIK, this is the first fatality in a fixed
wing aircraft over the VFR corridor in many years. Keep in mind that this
is a very popular flight with pilots and many make it each day.

snip

Maybe Lidle was a
crash waiting to happen, but his rendevous with this exact building on
this day could have been a function of corridor layout. Maybe there
should not be seams in VFR corridors obliging pilots to negotiate
high-skill turns over ultra-populated ground?


In looking at the NY Times animation of the flight path, which most likely
contains inaccuracies, a thought occurred to me: Given that there was a
CFI aboard, I wonder if the Cirrus purposely avoided flying directly over
Roosevelt Island and instead remained west of the island and over the
water, which significantly reduced what little airspace they had to make
the U-turn?

The only time I flew up the East River corridor (three or four years ago
and in a C172), my decision where to U-turn , which I had thought of when
planning the flight, involved doing so well south of Roosevelt Island, over
what seemed to be the widest point of the East River. Mind you, I am not
at all meaning to compare decision-making skills, but rather to demonstrate
that I was concerned both about remaining well clear of the Class B
airspace at the northern tip of Roosevelt Island and to be over a wide
enough point of the river in which to execute the turn.

Admittedly, in thinking of this accident I discovered that my one major
weakness in flying the East River that day was the fact that I never even
gave the winds aloft any thought and I, too, turned into Manhattan to make
the turn. At the time I probably only had about 100 hours.

And in a 172 you have quite an advantage over the Cirrus with regard to
turn radius.

Matt