Small aircraft crashes into NYC building; fighters scrambled over US cities

[Sauron]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/11/plane.crash/index.html

Aircraft crashes into Manhattan high-rise
POSTED: 3:27 p.m. EDT, October 11, 2006
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NEW YORK (CNN) -- An aircraft has crashed into the middle of a brick luxury high-rise residential building on Manhattan's Upper East Side at 72nd Street and York Avenue, police officials said.

The building is very close to the East River. There was no word on casualties as firefighters battled the flames that shot up from several windows in the middle of the building. The Federal Aviation Administration has said a "general aviation" aircraft had hit the building.

A North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) spokesperson, which monitors air traffic, told CNN that it had not been tracking the aircraft.

Witness Sarah Steiner told CNN that fires were burning on the ground. "It looks like the plane just flew into someone's living room there." (Watch the orange flames ravage the apartment -- 1:50)

"It looks as if the aircraft didn't go into the building but fell down," she said. "It may be part of the debris burning on the ground."

Steiner said that when she arrived, she saw fire shooting out of two windows on the 30th floor of the 50-story building.

Video from the scene shows at least three apartments in the high-rise fully engulfed in flames.

Edited to add: would it be overly cynical to suspect this is probably a Bush/Cheney attempt to create an "October surprise" and make America feel less safe?