Every body I fly with or even just asks me the same question. I have
this simple answer to anyone, especially those who don't know anything
about flying...

"You're flying along, fat and happy, doesn't matter where or how high,
for that matter, and you decide for whatever reason that you want to do
a u-turn and go back the way you came.

You look out of the window and on the left side, you see a boatload of
buildings. You look on the right side, and you see open air.

So, which way do you turn ? "

Like I said, no discussion about LGA, airspace ownership, radio usage,
just simple common sense...

Ray

Felix wrote:
I'm sure this was discussed for a while after it happened...I wanted
to bring this up again...I was just reading an article that I came
across explaining how Corey Lidle's crash into a Manhattan Building
could have happened. Some people say it was mechanical failure, others
say it because he flew into a cloud...So i started thinking about it
and I came up with this explanation:

The east river is a very narrow corridor. Continuing flight north
would put him in LaGuardia Airspace. To Avoid the airspace Lidle
needed to make a 180 degree turn back. Since the East River is so
narrow a turn of 30 or more degrees would probably be needed to avoid
flying over Manhattan. Once you bank an airplane over 30 degrees, you
would no longer see the tops of any building. Your line of sight
would be towards the bottom of the building. He probably didn't even
bother looking to the left to see if there are any obstacles before
starting the turn. He also probably didn't realize that his rate of
turn wasn't quick enough to avoid the building until it was too late.

Is this a possible explanation or am I completely wrong here?

Felix