Click to play videoNew York: A plane slams into a New York highrise killing a New York Yankees pitcher. It happened five years after 9/11, but why was a plane able to hit New York again?
Imagine if the crash had not been an accident, but a deliberate terror attack on a high value target - like the United Nations, the Brooklyn Bridge or even a packed stadium.
It takes only seconds for a small plane to veer off course - with fatal consequences.
Says Pat D'Amuro, who ran the FBI's counterterrorism unit, "One small aircraft is not going to create the type of havoc that al-Qaeda would like but it still is a concern for the lone wolf who may be sympathetic to a radical fundamentalist cause or any type of cause and may want to commit suicide to conduct this kind of attack."
Counter-terrorism officials talk about the possibility of someone loading a small plane with explosives, or chemical and biological weapons or using the plane itself as a flying bomb - as happened in 9/11.
Commercial planes have much tighter security than private planes and corporate jets that take-off from small airports across the country.
While the airspace over Manhattan is restricted to commercial planes, private aircraft can fly along the city's rivers.
Though fighter planes were scrambled following the Lidle crash, a counter-terrorism official tells CNN, "Even if those planes were in the air, it takes only seconds for a small plane to change course - with deadly results."
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)
More on IBNLive Right Now
TOP NEWS
MOST SHARED
PHOTOGALLERY
