Plane That Crashed Into NYC Building Flown By Yanks' Cory Lidle

So the plane that crashed into the Belaire buildling on the Upper East Side of Manhattan about two hours ago, freaking everybody around here the hell out?

Turns out, according to the FAA, it was licensed to, of all people, Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle.

(UPDATE: An aviation source, according to CNN, says "he believes Lidle was the man piloting the plane." But that's unconfirmed.)

(SECOND UPDATE: Here's the FAA report on Lidle's plane.)

(THIRD UPDATE: On CNN, SI's Tom Verducci says the Yankees had talked to Lidle about his love of planes.)

(FOURTH UPDATE: The FBI has confirmed that Lidle was indeed on the plane, by himself. His passport was found on the street.)

(FIFTH UPDATE: The New York medical examiner's office has confirmed that Lidle was killed in the crash.)

(SIXTH UPDATE: Here's a story from Delaware Online specifically addressing Lidle's disagreements with Yankees' brass about flying. To quote:

"The Phillies weren't enamored of pitcher Cory Lidle's hobby of flying a four-seat airplane.

But now that Lidle is with the Yankees, it's an especially sensitive topic.

In 1979, Yankees catcher Thurman Munson died when a plane he was piloting crashed near his home in Canton, Ohio. Lidle earned his pilot's license last offseason, and has insisted his plane is safe.

"The whole plane has a parachute on it," he told The New York Times. "Ninety-nine percent of pilots that go up never have engine failure, and the 1 percent that do usually land.

"But, if you're up in the air and something goes wrong, you pull that parachute, and the whole plane goes down slowly.")

(SEVENTH UPDATE: "Mike And The Mad Dog" are reporting that that Lidle had just told the team he was flying home to California. Here's that interview.)

(EIGHTH UPDATE: Here's the recent New York Times article on Lidle's obsession with planes.)

(NINTH UPDATE: Here's a picture of Lidle and his plane, which is not the one that crashed, by the way.)

(TENTH UPDATE: You might remember this quote from Arthur Rhodes' tirade against Lidle after he was traded in July:

"The only thing Cory Lidle wants to do is fly around in his airplane and gamble. He doesn't have a work ethic.")

(ELEVENTH UPDATE: Mayor Bloomberg is saying that there was a passenger with Lidle on the plane.)