Airplane hits Empire State Building

[caryc]

Actually this was in 1945 but I had never heard of this. I saw a program on TV about it today.

It was a B25 and it flew into the building in a fog. Fourteen people were killed. Can you imagine the look on that pilot's face when all of a sudden, he saw that building directly in front of him?

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/plane-crashes-into-empire-state-building

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YLWh8Rbp7o

 

[blackhawknj]

I heard that story in my youth (born 1949). We lived north of NYC at the time.

 

[Rook]

You would think that any pilot flying around NYC in the fog would know to get his plane higher than the tallest building. After all they did have altimeters at that time.

 

[caryc]

You would think that any pilot flying around NYC in the fog would know to get his plane higher than the tallest building. After all they did have altimeters at that time.

My thoughts too but maybe in all the fog, he really didn't know where he was.

No GPS in those days either.

 

[Selena]

You would think that any pilot flying around NYC in the fog would know to get his plane higher than the tallest building. After all they did have altimeters at that time.

My thoughts too but maybe in all the fog, he really didn't know where he was.

No GPS in those days either.

Didn't military craft have radar though? Or radio ranging? Still, it was an unfortunate accident.

 

[Bull Barrel]

No plane hit that building. King Kong swatted them down!

 

[Paul B]

I'll bet I can guess what the pilot's last two words were. "Oh s--t!"
Paul B.

 

[CGDustDevil]

You would think that any pilot flying around NYC in the fog would know to get his plane higher than the tallest building. After all they did have altimeters at that time.

My thoughts too but maybe in all the fog, he really didn't know where he was.

No GPS in those days either.

He THOUGHT he knew where he was. The pilot asked for landing clearance to Newark on a routine personnel transport mission and was told the place was socked in with fog. The pilot continued the approach anyway, became disoriented and plowed into the building trying to find the airport.

It happens, even with highly trained and experienced pilots. My sister in law, an extremely experienced airline pilot, lost her life in 2004 when she flew their Cessna 182 into a mountain in Maine. (Cumulus granite) She thought she was between two peaks on approach to a lake to pick up passengers, but she was about a half mile off her intended course for whatever reason that we will never know.

 

[Bull Barrel]

That's why they put all those numbers on cumulogranite and cumulosteel clouds on the charts so you can stay above them.

Too many people get a case of gotta get thereitis and it kills them.
That and too many people let their ego get in the way of decisions.

 

[RUFFBIRD]

Pilot was probably texting.... :wink:

 

[redhawker]

kinda like this...

 

[mohavesam]

I'll bet I can guess what the pilot's last two words were. "Oh s--t!"
Paul B.

- Capt. Sum Ting Wong :shock:

 

[Bob Wright]

I remember that very well. There was some family concern at that time as my sister had been on flights on B-25s as an assistant instructor in instrument flying.

Her "claim to fame" was that she once "flew" a B-25.

As a matter of interest, to our family, was that last year, a B-25 came to Memphis from the CAF and was on static display with rides available. My niece, my sister's youngest daughter, took a flight in that B-25.


Bob Wright

 

[toysoldier]

Didn't military craft have radar though? Or radio ranging? Still, it was an unfortunate accident.

Nope and nope. The first airborne radar units were installed in night fighters. Radio location depended on signals transmitted from specific locations, and was used by both German and Allied bombers (different systems) in Europe.

 

[bigbill]

A gal was in the elevator when the prop cut the ropes. The comp ropes under the elevator coiled up below the cab that saved her life I think she only broke her leg.

True story I worked for Otis elevator.

I did a tour of the world trade centers elevators and the floors below ground level. Two years before 9/11. Kind of creepy thinking about it today. I met the Otis staff there. They did change the service contract to another company before 9/11.

 

[caryc]

A gal was in the elevator when the prop cut the ropes. The comp ropes under the elevator coiled up below the cab that saved her life I think she only broke her leg.

True story I worked for Otis elevator.

I did a tour of the world trade centers elevators and the floors below ground level. Two years before 9/11. Kind of creepy thinking about it today. I met the Otis staff there. They did change the service contract to another company before 9/11.

Yeah, that elevator fell 81 floors. The emergency elevator brake did not work.