Avoiding Another Plane Crash?
October 15th, 2006
In response to the plane crash into the Upper East Side high-rise on 10/11 that killed Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle and his flight instructor Tyler Chase Stanger, both an editorial in the Daily News and a commentary in that newspaper by Senator Charles Schumer approve of the ban announced Friday by the Federal Aviation Administration on fixed-wing planes above the East River unless the pilot is in contact with air traffic control, and both call for similar restrictions over the Hudson River.
The positive of achieving even a marginal increase in safety or reduction in the risk of terror outweighs the negative of placing added burdens on the air-traffic control system and fliers, the newspaper writes.
Senator Schumer writes: The FAA has much tighter rules for Washington, and if these restrictions can protect the President and Congress, then they can protect the millions of people who live and work in Manhattan.
But, also writing in the Daily News,
Phil Boyer, president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, disagrees. The FAA’s decision to ban small-planes from the East River corridor is an ill-informed reaction one driven by the urge to do something because the hard facts and analysis are still weeks or months away, Boyer says. But the fact remains that the crash was an accident. Restricting access to the Hudson River and East River corridors will not lead to safer skies or reduce the chances of a terrorist attack Security experts and federal agencies have repeatedly concluded small planes are too slow and too small to be weapons of terrorism.
As for new restrictions reducing the chance of another plane crash, Boyer writes, a pedestrian is killed on average every day in New York by a car or truck. Do these same politicians rush before the cameras and call for a ban of all vehicles? Of course not.
Last week, Aaron Donovan of Streetsblog used the same analogy to make a different point. He contrasted the coverage of the two tragic deaths from a plane crash to the weekly carnage on the regions roads, listing and linking to some three dozen car accidents during the week, in which some two dozen New Yorkers were killed, including Fandango founder Sam Blyakher, 33, and his 32-year-old wife, Rebecca, a neuroscientist.
By Jonathan Mandell on October 15, 2006, 6:51 amIn category: Gotham City, Transportation | 1 Comment »


October 15th, 2006 at 10:44 am
Senator Schumer and others continues to call for restrictions on small planes even after Homeland Security determined they aren’t a significant threat. If they are really concerned about security, why haven’t they called for restrictions on care and trucks in the city? Maybe drivers should have to file a ‘driveplan’ explaining where they’re going and the route they’ll take with authorities before going anywhere in the city? A Briton recently confessed to plotting to blow up buildings in the U.S. using limousines and trucks have been used in numerous terrorist attacks. A small plane has never been used in a terrorist attack lacks the load-carrying capability and mass to be an effective weapon of mass destruction.