Lidle's Flight Instructor Was Onboard Cirrus

ANN REALTIME UPDATE 10.12.06 1330 EDT: Aero-News has learned authorities have identified the second victim in Wednesday's crash of a Cirrus SR20 into a Manhattan highrise apartment building as Tyler Stanger, the 26-year-old flight instructor who taught Cory Lidle how to fly.

Lidle, a 34-year-old pitcher for the New York Yankees, was also killed in the accident. Authorities report 23 persons were injured, many of them firefighters hurt while battling the four-alarm fire that ensued.

Family members say Stanger learned to fly when he was 17, and worked as an aviation mechanic until two years ago. He then bought a pair of Cessna 172s and started his own flight training school.

Stanger reportedly once described Lidle, who received his private pilot's license in February of this year, as his best student to date.

Family members told WABC-TV that Stanger's wife was on a commercial flight from New York to California when the accident occurred. Stanger's grandmother, Meriam Stanger, said the two men were preparing to fly the Cirrus home to California.

"And on that flight back, they wanted to have a good time on the way," she told WABC-TV.

Still to be determined is what led the men to accidentally fly their aircraft into the Belaire apartment tower on Manhattan's Upper East Side. As Aero-News reported Wednesday, investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board are on the scene.

Stay tuned to ANN for further updates on this tragic accident.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov