11/12/01 NEWS BREAK: Plane Crashes in Queens,

NEW YORK (CNN) -- An American Airlines jet with 255 people on board crashed Monday in a residential neighborhood after taking off from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.

American Airlines Flight 587 went down at 9:17 a.m. EST in the Rockway section of the New York City borough of Queens about five miles from Kennedy airport.

A senior Bush administration official told CNN initial indications are that there was an explosion aboard the plane, an Airbus A300, but that the source of the explosion is unknown.

New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said there were two crash sites -- one where the plane landed and another where an engine landed. Both were about six blocks from a school building. The school was closed for the Veterans Day holiday.

The plane was scheduled to leave at 8:40 a.m. EST, but takeoff was delayed until 9:14 a.m.

GALLERY Scenes from Monday's New York airplane crash

FACT BOX

American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300 -- 246 passengers, nine crew members

En route from New York to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Scheduled for 8:40 a.m. EST departure

Plane took off at 9:14 a.m. EST

The plane went down at 9:17 a.m. EST

New York declares Level One alert; 44 firetrucks, 200 firefighters dispatched to scene

Three New York-area airports initially shut down, city tunnels and bridges closed

The plane was en route from New York to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. American Airlines said the plane was carrying 246 passengers and nine crew members.

An eyewitness told CNN, "I was in my kitchen ... and I saw the plane hit the house behind my house. It was so low, I was ducking almost, then huge fireballs, and I jumped out of the ... window of my house.

"I ran right across the street ... it's unbelievable," she said, overcome by emotion. "It sounded like two planes. It was flying too low, and then it hit. It was like a bomb exploded."

At least four houses were on fire, and a huge plume of smoke could be seen rising from the sites. The New York Fire Department dispatched 44 firetrucks and 200 firefighters to the scene. Giuliani declared a Level One emergency, mobilizing all available police, fire and emergency personnel.

Giuliani said his first response to the crash was, "Oh my God."

Thank God you posted that here. I depend on a Seinfeld newsgroup for my national news. (God knowns the mainstream media would never report such an obscure story.)

^^^^^^ "Art is often hailed as the grandest expression of human spirit, but we know now ... that the grandest expression of human spirit is whatever it takes for a man or woman to rush back into a burning building to save more people."

can i still be your latex salesman?

let me paint a scenario for you:

someone wakes up around 11:00 in the morning, and before turning on the news, they check the seinfeld newsgroup like they do every morning. they see my post, and realize that the flight grandma mimma (for example) is on has crashed. They then turn on the TV and call their family who also was asleep. it was done purely out of care, i wasnt making it seem like i was breaking the news, but you never know who heard it when. no need to be such a wiseass.

"Art Vandelay" wrote in message news:[email]...

know

for a

Right, but this is alt.tv.seinfeld. Since the crash will be covered in-depth on TV and radio (not to mention all news sites and topical Usenet forums), there's really no need to mention it in this newsgroup (or the vast majority of the other 30,000 unrelated newsgroups) unless it's relevant to the newsgroup topic, especially if you're just pasting a news story verbatim from CNN. At the very least, mark it with an [OT] for "off-topic".

It's not a big deal, so don't take offense--I don't want it to sound like the "net cops" are coming down on you for a message posted with the best of intentions. We're just pointing out that it's not necessary to post such off-topic and widely circulated information here, and only lowers the "signal to noise" ratio of Seinfeld-related posts. 'Nuff said. :-)

in defense to myself-- it was originally going to be a question about weather or not the plane crashed in the costanza's neighborhood, but i decided that it may not be appropriate. "John Twernbold" wrote in message news:mNZH7.462607$[email]...

in-depth

majority

of

Chris wrote: "....it was done purely out of care, i wasnt making it seem like i was breaking the news, but you never know who heard it when. no need to be such a wiseass."

You're right; I was a wiseass.

^^^^^^ "Art is often hailed as the grandest expression of human spirit, but we know now ... that the grandest expression of human spirit is whatever it takes for a man or woman to rush back into a burning building to save more people."

Disagree with the criticisms against you. It was a nice thought.

DV