UPDATED at 6:17 p.m. EST
The
New York Times recently did a background piece on
Cory Lidle, the
Yankees pitcher who
is believed to have died after crashing his plane into a New
York high-rise.
The
National Transportation Safety Board confirms the airplane was registered to Lidle.
This
is the registration for the aircraft involved in the crash.
The airplane was built with
a parachute inside, which
is designed to make it safer in an emergency.
The Times' story said:
He earned his pilot's license last off-season and bought a
four-seat airplane for $187,000. It is a Cirrus
SR20, built in 2002, with fewer than 400 hours in the air.
A player-pilot is still a sensitive topic for the Yankees,
whose captain, Thurman Munson, was killed in the crash of a plane he was flying
in 1979. Lidle, acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies on July 30, said his
plane was safe.
"The whole plane has a parachute on it," Lidle said. "Ninety-nine percent of pilots that go up never have engine failure, and the 1
percent that do usually land it. But if you're up in the air and something goes
wrong, you pull that parachute, and the whole plane goes down slowly."
You can see a short video of
how the parachute is supposed to work by clicking here.
The Times' story said:
Lidle, 34, lives in West
Covina, Calif., 20 miles or so
east of Los Angeles. On a trip to Arizona
last season, Lidle saw a former teammate, Tom Wilson, whose friend is a pilot.
Lidle became intrigued by how quickly he could navigate the
Southwest if he could fly a plane. He had never flown, but decided that if he
could learn in an off-season, he would make it his top priority.
Here
is Lidle's pilot certificate.
Here is the Yankees'
official bio page for Lidle, which says:
Cory Fulton Lidle...Married
Melanie Varela (1/7/97); one son, Christopher Taylor (9/18/00)...1990 graduate
of South Hills High School (CA), where he was a teammate of Jason Giambi...Was
All-State his senior year...His twin brother, Kevin, played minor league
baseball, first as a catcher and then as a pitcher...Is a relative of Robert
Fulton, inventor of the steamboat.
ESPN.com's story inclues a really useful timeline about the history of athletes who have died in plane crashes.
You might find some other useful resources on previous Al's Morning Meeting columns, particularly here and here.
