The National Transportation Safety Board released an update to its investigation into the October 11 plane crash carrying Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle and his flight instructor Tyler Stanger. It appears that the turn the plane was trying to make was too tight, and the wind may also have caused an issue when the plane crashed into the East 72nd Street apartment building. From the NTSB:
Radar data indicate that the airplane was flying over the east side of Roosevelt Island prior to initiating a 180 degree turn. At this location, there would have been a maximum of 2100 feet clearance from buildings, if the full width of the river had been used. However, from the airplane's mid-river position over Roosevelt Island, the available turning width was only 1700 feet. The prevailing wind from the east would have caused the airplane to drift 400 feet toward the building during the turn, reducing the available turning width to about 1300 feet. At an airspeed of 97 knots, this turn would have required a constant bank angle of 53 degrees and a loading of 1.7 Gs on the airplane. If the initial portion of the turn was not this aggressive, a sufficiently greater bank angle would have been needed as the turn progressed, which would have placed the airplane dangerously close to an aerodynamic stall.
The NTSB hasn't officially determined that the plane stalled, but suspects that was what happened. The NTSB stressed, "We haven't concluded that wind was the cause of the accident. ... To say it's being blamed or that's the cause of the accident is premature."
The NY Times spoke to a pilot about the report:
One New York-area pilot, David Maas, said after reading the report that the Cirrus pilot would have had a hard time making such a tight turn. “In a situation like that, it’s very easy to say, with a spreadsheet after the crash, that ‘Oh, you should have been at 53 degrees,’ ” he said.
But typically a pilot would not bank the plane steeply enough at the beginning, and would have to compensate later. “They were probably very close to stalling and worried about it,” Mr. Maas said.
The NTSB is still looking at damaged GPS units, a memory chip and laptop found in the wreckage.
Graphic showing area airport radar tracking the plane from the NTSB
