2nd bolt from blue

Cory Lidle’s doomed plane didn’t just crash into anybody’s apartment.

It exploded into the empty bedroom of Kathleen Caronna, the Manhattan woman who was critically injured when a balloon knocked part of a lamppost onto her head during the 1997 Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The plane’s engine was found only feet away from where Caronna sleeps, her relatives told the Daily News yesterday.

“She lost her whole bedroom,” said a family member, who asked not to be identified. “Everything’s devastated. … She’s got nowhere to go.”

Kathleen Caronna



  1. GregA says:

    This represents Bush’s biggest failure to date (except for Bush War 2). Why are planes still allowed to fly over Manhattan? I can see Helecopters, there are places to land. Small planes on the other hand, there are no airports in Manhattan that I am aware of, why are they still allowed to fly?

  2. Uncle Dave says:

    Somewhere in the reporting on the crash it was mentioned that something like 7 helicopters had crashed in Manhatten over the last few years. A while ago, I read that quite a number of them used for traffic, flying ambulance and other purposes around the country had crashed. Forget terrorist using them for nefarious purposes. Small planes with inexperienced pilots and copters which seem to crash regularly over a skyscraper city like NY seems crazy.

  3. Uncle Dave says:

    Forgot to add, it’s Bushes fault. Don’t want to mislead my fans into thinking I’ve gone soft.

  4. Skippy says:

    Apparently God doesn’t love all of “HIS” children..

  5. Improbus says:

    It sounds like Kathleen is working off some serious karma problems.

  6. James says:

    GregA, I’m no fan of Bush, but contrary to popular belief, not everything is his fault. Really.

  7. Cognito says:

    #6 So where does the buck stop?

  8. Named says:

    /flame on

    And the building is still standing…

  9. OhForTheLoveOf says:

    #7 – If its a literal buck, it can stop here… Just keep all the bucks moving till they get here. I need a new plasma screen TV.

    So here is the important question… Is Kathleen Caronna single? She’s a cherub cheeked little honey muffin, if you’re pickin’ up on what I’m laying down…

  10. RBG says:

    2. “Small planes with inexperienced pilots and copters which seem to crash regularly over a skyscraper city like NY seems crazy. ”

    Small planes do not fly over Manhatten, except with special permission. They fly over the rivers. The plane that crashed had a flying instructor on board. How many other *small* planes do you know that have crashed into NY towers?

    Further, there are millions of general aviation flights of every description over built-up areas – and no one seems all that concerned about it. Now let’s talk about all the deadly traffic accidents across North America where thousands upon thousands of children are killed and maimed. Where are their Iraq-like body counts?

    But what is crazy to me – without knowing all the particulars – is having relatively dense air traffic having to execute a 180 in the space of the East River at the end of their run. And also allowing them to turn counter-clockwise when it should be clockwise away from the highrises, imho.

    But rather than fix such things, reactionary running-dogs (I use the term very loosely) would scrap flying completely.

    RBG

  11. OhForTheLoveOf says:

    I don’t wanna blow anyone’s mind here… But RBG’s post #10 is 100% correct. 🙂

    Americans, I fear, spent way too much time being frightened and reactionary. A plane crashed. It happens. Not often. Almost never. So whomever is in charge of air traffic in NYC should tweak the rules to prevent this from happening again. Everyone else should chill out because the car the are riding in is the danger they should worry about.

    However, if Kathleen Caronna (that cherub cheeked little honey muffin) want to complain about air traffic… well, I guess she’s earned the right to weigh in. Poor thing… I just want to consul her in this time of sadness.

  12. Richard says:

    I am a low time pilot in training and this accident shows how much the public doesnt know about general avation. The first time I was flying I learned how to turn an airplane. common sense would say to turn away from the building but you never know what was going on inside of that airplane. There are hundreds of general avation flights around the new york area every day and this has been the first incident with a small plane flying into a building. there are also as someone mentioned helicopters flying in manhattan which I dont realy know a lot about but Ive never heard of any other flying vehicle crashing into a manhatan building exept for 9/11.

    Also Im all for the bush bashing but when it is for something such as flying which he has no control over that isnt cool. and if you wanted to restrict all flight over and around manhattan which currently you have to have special permision from ATC to over fly manhattan but around manhattan that will never happen. There are so many executives that fly in and out of new york in general avation planes there would be an uproar in that community of the flying public that would not allow that to happen.

    This accident just happend to happen at the worst time and in one of the worst places anywhere.

  13. Dugger says:

    Hey, I just crashed my Cessna in Microsoft Flight Simulator at that same exact location just now.

    Do I blame Gates or Bush?

  14. mandarin says:

    At least she’s alive.
    Would you rather prefer to be in the bedroom when the plane struck?

  15. Frank IBC says:

    #12 Richard –

    The area of the East River over which planes are allowed to fly ends less than a mile north of where the crash occured.

    It’s possible that the plane was making a U-turn, and lost control at that point, and swung wide, into the building.

  16. Frank IBC says:

    Here are some excellent
    graphics of the flght path, from the New York Times.

    Frame #4 and #5 show the restricted and unrestricted areas of the East River, and where the crash occurred.

  17. Smartalix says:

    You can see the impact point from my building, and the building staff has been talking about it ever since. The funny thing is I didn’t find out about the accident until after I got off of my commercial flight that afternoon. Someone said, “the traffic is going to be terrible with that plane hitting the building.” I was blown away until I heard it was a small plane accident.

    Considering some of the earlier posts, what ever happened to, “we have nothing to fear but fear itself”?

  18. Bob says:

    The building should not have been there. The pilot must have been using outdated Google charts.

  19. Miguel Correia says:

    RBG, I agree with you 100%

  20. John Paradox says:

    which I dont realy know a lot about but Ive never heard of any other flying vehicle crashing into a manhatan building exept for 9/11.

    Back in 1945, a B-29 flew into the Empire State Building, so planes have been running into skyscrapers for some time.

    J/P=?

    (enter Empire State Building + B-29 to Google it)

  21. Mr. Fusion says:

    Considering some of the earlier posts, what ever happened to, “we have nothing to fear but fear itself”?

    Nothing, we’re just too afraid to think about it.

  22. Tom says:

    Poor m&m’s they will suffer once more.

  23. joshua says:

    I would say her luck was pretty damn good, or she would have been in that bedroom or apartment when the plane crashed. And since those apartments run 1 million or more to buy, her luck after Macy’s parade wa pretty damn good as well.

    Lidle’s luck on the other hand sucked.

  24. Frank IBC says:

    Interesting observation, joshua.

    I have no idea what was her income prior to the 1997 accident, but it seems likely that the settlement with Macy’s led directly to her having that apartment.

    Jinxed money, you might say.

    “It was written.”
    Lawrence of Arabia

  25. jack_mehoff says:

    Kathleen Caronna…

    Living in a Manhattan highrise…

    Obviously, this woman is poverty-stricken…

    gh0d’s just punishing her for pretending not to be…

    “She lost her whole bedroom”… guess she’ll be sleeping under a bridge somewhere…

    Unless she’s been donating to the GOP – then, a beachhouse in Texas or Florida…

  26. Matt H says:

    Worst….luck….ever (comic book guy voice).

  27. Max says:

    How can you connect this to the Bush administration? That’s just laughable, and shows how deeply rooted your anger truely is. That would be like saying Clinton’s biggest failure was my car accident in 1998 because his administraion allowed the Indian foriegn national driving the car that hit me a visa. Give me a break.

    You know, if this story wasn’t so tragic, it would be funny too.

  28. OhForTheLoveOf says:

    #27 – How can you connect this to the Bush administration?

    You can’t.

    And we should stop doing it.

    Look, Bush is the single worst President since Hoover. He might well be the worst President in the history of the United States. My reasoning is rooted squarely in all the public evidence and the miserable state of foriegn policy, the environment, the economy, education, and everything else that is failing that he has touched… But presidents don’t touch everything and small planes in New York aren’t really security risks and linking Bush to failure that isn’t his only fuels the neocons when they try, however feeblemindedly, to argue that Bush is a strong leader.

    Bush isn’t a guy we don’t particularly like. He isn’t someone we want to damage out of spite or a desire to be mean. He’s simply providing bad leadership and there is no hope of evidence that he will change and provide good leadership, so lets only criticize the real stuff, some of which is legendary in stature as failure goes, and ignore the impulse to invent blame at every opportunity.

  29. Kathy's friend says:

    For those of you who know Kathy, you would know that everything about her life was turned upside down after the parade accident. You would also know that her injuries were so severe that she almost died and now she is not the same person she was. And you would know that she and her husband were quite successful before the accident and were living quite comfortably before. Those of you who DON’T know her or her family should only hope that they never have to live even a minute of her life. And now a plane crashes into her apartment and she has lost all of her photos and other memories of her past that are irreplaceable. All of you should be so “lucky”.

  30. curmudgen says:

    SmartAlix
    “we have nothing to fear but fear itself”?

    Fear Its self is giving a lecture according to Gary Trudeau. Is he the same one you are refering to?


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