I know this isn't the best first source for news, but I'll try to keep a live blog up as info rolls in.  There is no reason at this time to suspect terrorism or an intentional act.  This is a very busy area for aircraft.

OK, here's a picture of the building that was hit.  http://local.live.com/defau...
I've got a connection to someone who is a block from there, he's outside now to check on the scene.

Oops, in the picture above, it's the tall red building.

OK, FBI confirms that this is not a terror attack, but NORAD is putting fighters in the air anyway.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id...

OK, definately confirmed it's a small plane.  The pictures show that it was higher than the 20th floor, looks like 40th or so.  2 confirmed dead so far.

Hearing that the fire is out, events are wrapping up.

New Yorkers are awesome.  Breaking news now is all about how this is affecting traffic tonight. 

Just heard the plane was registered to Corey Lidle, the Yankees pitcher who was just traded.

CORY LIDLE DEAD.-Yankees Pitcher......he was flying the plane that crashed into the NY building. Lidle memorabilia is going up up up in price now on EBAY.

It's a really sad story.  Once the blackbox comes back, we'll know more.  Looks like he just got the plane and had only had his pilots' licencse for a year.  Might have been engine failure, a stall or suicide by plane.

What makes you think small planes like that are equipped with "black boxes"? The best bet we have is if he made mayday calls in. Without that, it'll be up to the FAA and NTSB to try to reconstruct the plane and figure it out.

This was a high tech sumbitch.  I can't find the link for the type of plane, but it had a HUD instead of gauges and a parachute for the whole plane.

Here's a similar accident, with a similar end in San Jose.  Same plane.

http://www.aopa.org/asf/pub...

ASF comments
This appears to be a loss of situational awareness
leading to the impact with power lines and a
mountain.
However, there are some clues that the pilot
was having trouble with the technology. The first
indication comes from radar data reported in the
full NTSB report, “The controller issued a clearance
direct to OZNUM. After this exchange, radar
indicated the airplane turned almost 90 degrees
to the right, and tracked on a course consistent
with proceeding direct to PAO.” The pilot could
have programmed PAO into the GPS before the
clearance changed to OZNUM, and with the
autopilot coupled, the aircraft would have turned
toward PAO The second clue occurred during the last
moments of the flight. “As the airplane passed
just northwest of OZNUM, the controller
instructed the pilot to contact the tower on frequency
“118.6.” This is the PAO tower frequency,
not RHV. The pilot queried the controller but the
controller insisted, “Yes sir, it is.” The pilot complied
and contacted PAO tower. The pilot and the
PAO controller discussed that he was on the
wrong frequency and the pilot said he would
switch to the RHV frequency of 119.8. During this
conversation, radar indicated the airplane began
a turn to the right, with the target visibly displaced
from the final approach course at 1652:33,
approximately over JOPAN waypoint.
The Cirrus’ control stick is located on the left
side of the pilot, while the GPS on the lower right
of the pilot. NTSB noted that the pilot was likely
hand-flying the aircraft, while possibly programing
the GPS on his right, he could have inadvertently
started a right turn by “leaning” to the right
and moving the control stick to the right. This is,
again, speculative and the exact cause of the right
hand turn into the power lines will never be
known.

Can you say "distracted driving"?

Mattloch - Cars now have black boxes! Planes are required to have them, not just comercial airliners.

This just caught my eye because the reports said the the plane suddenly changed direction.  If he was on the wrong flightpath with autopilot engaged and then lost contact behind a building...

I've heard that amd, which is why my next car is based on 50-year old designs. My current ride is 10 years old, and as it falls apart the repair bills are getting stupid-high. I want a car that doesn't use a computer, doesn't have things like fuel-injection and ABS that require you to take out a second morgage to pay for, and looks and handles better than anything out there for it's price today. More computers is just more to go wrong. Forget HUDs and fly-by-wire; it may be "safer" but it is also more to go wrong. And when it does, you're not just in trouble, you're completely screwed.

You'd better get a really old one  mattloch. My '69 volkswagen has fuel injection and a computer.