The single-engine aircraft piloted by the Yankees baseball star Cory Lidle hit the upper floors of the Belaire, a 54- storey tower on the wealthy Upper East Side, sending burning debris falling on to the street and igniting a raging fire inside apartments.

Lidle and another person, believed to be a flight instructor, died in the collision.

The loud bang of the crash was followed by sirens echoing across Manhattan as firefighters and other emergency services raced to the scene. The sounds and sights of the crash struck fear in a city still psychologically devastated by the attacks of September 11 five years ago.

Fighter jets were scrambled to New York and several other major US cities minutes after the crash and other security measures devised after 9/11 were put into place. FBI officials, however, said that there was no indication that terrorism was involved.

Nevertheless, many New Yorkers were questioning how, after the 9/11 attacks, an aircraft could get so close to the heart of the city.

Luis Gonzalez, a builder, was working on the 46th floor of the Belaire when he saw the aircraft coming straight at him. “I looked out of the window and I saw the airplane coming towards us,” he said.

“I do not know if he tried to turn, but he flew right at us, into the building. We ran to the elevator. We went down three floors (stopping) to see if there were any people. When we got to 42 there was smoke and we could not see if there were any people there.”

Lidle, 34, was married with one son. His most recent game was last Saturday, when he pitched badly, giving up three runs in just over one innings as the Yankees were eliminated from the American League play-offs by the Detroit Tigers.

The pitcher, whose annual salary was about £1.8 million, had held his pilot’s licence for only eight months. He bought a fourseater aircraft, a Cirrus SR20 built in 2002, which had fewer than 400 hours in the air, for about £100,000. The aircraft was kept at Teterboro Airport, in New Jersey.

He became interested in flying last year. His instructor, Tyler Stanger, told The New York Times last month that Lidle “was probably my best student. He learned very, very quickly, and a lot of it is desire.”

However, local media reported that Lidle was only authorised to pilot an aircraft in fine weather, and New York was enveloped in mist yesterday.

The crash left a smoking hole between the three floors of the red brick tower, but it was a tiny fraction of the gaping hole created by the impact of the first jet in the World Trade Centre attack.

Alexa Liguori, a personal assistant who lives on the 20th floor of the next high rise, said: “It was a real loud crash. I looked out my window and saw debris flying everywhere. It’s scary that a plane will be flying this low in this neighbourhood. This is a residential neighbourhood.”

The smoke quickly dissipated and turned white as it came into contact with water from sprinklers and fire hoses. At one point a jet of water could be seen spraying out of the hole in the side of the building.

Michael Bloomberg, the New York Mayor, said that two people on board the aircraft were the only fatalities, and their bodies were found on the street below. Lidle’s passport was found near by.

Tim Veit, a chauffer, said he saw one body still strapped into a plane seat on the pavement. “It looked like a passenger seat in an airliner,” he said. “He was strapped into the seat that was on the sidewalk almost exactly opposite where the plane had crashed.”

Mr Bloomberg said that the aircraft took off from Teterboro airport at 2.29pm local time and was tracked by radar until shortly before it crashed at 2.42pm.

“It was on a sightseeing trip as far as we can tell. They circled the Statue of Liberty and then came up the East River,” he said. “Radar lost contact with it at the 59th Street Bridge.”

The plane hit the 30th and 31st floors above the street, labelled as the 40th and 41st floor. A man and a woman were in the flat on the 41st floor when it was struck.

“At least some part of the plane came into the apartment where they were,” Mr Bloomberg said. “Luckily for them they were able to run out of the apartment into the hallway. I did talk to them. They were a little bit shaken up.”

Explore World News

• World Agenda

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Afghanistan News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• Twitter in trouble over Sarkozy affairs rumour
• North Koreans fear another devastating famine
• Want to be a genius? Practise, says geneticist