Corey Lidle crash: just about the last word
Last month, when the National Transportation Safety Board released its "Final Report" on the Corey Lidle crash, I mentioned its conclusion here:
the probable cause of a small airplane crash in Manhattan last October was the pilots' inadequate planning, judgment, and airmanship in the performance of a 180-degree turn maneuver inside of a limited turning space.
Because I was at the time en route to Burma, land of (among other things) little internet coverage, I did not then see two graphics-rich parts of the NTSB's proceedings. Recently I took a look at them: they are usefully, if tragically, clarifying.
This slide presentation, by the NTSB's "investigator-in-charge," goes through what is known (a lot) and not known about the crash. This animation, based on the plane's radar track, makes the "box canyon" predicament of the plane immediately visible.
Why the pilots didn't risk an airspace violation, barging into controlled airspace without a clearance but saving their lives, no one can say. Who was acting as "pilot in command" -- Lidle, or his flight instructor Tyler Stanger -- remains a mystery. Why they weren't able (as both presentations vividly show) to climb over the building they hit, rather than crash into it, is also not clear. On this last point, their quick descent just before the crash would be consistent with the theory that, having started their U-turn too late, they desperately over-tightened the turn when they saw they were headed for Manhattan. A too-steep turn (really, a too-great angle of bank), can put an airplane into an "aerodynamic stall," which in effect leads to a sudden nose-dive. Most other questions about the crash now seem resolved.
