Judah wrote in
:

Sorry, sometimes the fingers are too fast...

There are various types of aircraft that can navigate the East River corridor
without difficulty, even some smaller, slower planes. It's the responsibility
of the pilot to make sure that he and his equipment are capable of flying the
maneuvers required to do so safely under the prevailing conditions (ie: wind,
ceilings, etc).

This is probably why Mr. Lidle had an instructor in the plane - he wanted to
have someone with experience at his side to teach him how to navigate the VFR
corridors.

I'm not intensely familiar with the Cirrus, but my guess is that the
instructor didn't consider the prevailing wind conditions nor did he consider
the higher minimum speeds of the Cirrus as compared to a similar equipped
Cessna 172. I also question whether or not he had any Canyon flying training
/ experience, which may have helped make it possible for that plane to safely
perform a U-Turn over the East River... I don't know if the instructor and
Mr. Lidle had known each other, or

It's a terrible shame. But closing the corridor because of one unfortunate
accident reminds me of a situation a few years back that happened nearby.

The Cross County Parkway and the Major Deegan Expressway in Yonkers are
linked together by a short traversal onto Route 100 - which at that point is
almost like a service road. If you are going West on the Parkway and want to
go South on Route 100, you get stuck behind a traffic light on Route 100
following the posted signs. Alternatively, you could exit for the Deegan
North, and then make a Michigan U-Turn (I think that's what they call it -
it's a U-Turn lane through the median - almost like a jughandle style lane
but over the center median to the left instead of around to the right).

The U-Turn lane culminated in a Yield followed by a quick entrance onto the
Deegan. I used it for many years driving to school in Washington Heights and
driving to New Jersey. It was more convenient and I never thought twice about
it.

A few years ago, at around 4am, a Fuel Truck was making that U-Turn, and a
driver in a small car was coming South on Route 100. I don't know if they
ever really assigned fault, but the bottom line is that the car hit the
truck, and it caused an explosion of the fuel truck and many months of
rebuilding an overpass over the U-Turn lane. When they rebuilt it, they
closed off the U-Turn lane indefinitely, citing that it was too dangerous.

I don't think it's any more dangerous than any other posted yield sign - if
people don't pay proper attention to the signage, someone is going to get
hurt. But government officials needed to demonstrate their reaction to the
"horrible accident" to save face with the media, and now I have to wait at
that stupid light every time I go to New Jersey (it's one of those lights
that happens to ALWAYS be Red whenever you get there!)

Unfortunately, not enough people felt strongly enough about it to get them to
re-open it, probably because there are other acceptable ways to get on the
highway. Now there is grass in that median, and there is no sign of the U-
Turn.

I suspect the same may hold true for the East River corridor, especially
since seaplanes and helicopters are not part of the exclusion. Quite frankly,
I think it was pretty well known among the pilots in the area that the East
River corridor is very narrow, and most safely navigated while talking to LGA
Tower. I've flown the Hudson River corridor many times, but I've never flown
the East River corridor without being on with ATC. I once took a Canyon
flying course in Colorado, but I wouldn't want to worry about dodging tour
helicoptors in a Canyon turn...

The reality is, though, that had this happened pre 9/11 and had it been just
an average joe instead of a super-star athlete, it would have been an
unfortunate accident and written off.

We've become a bunch of cowardly lions...