A small plane carrying New York Yankee Cory Lidle slammed into a 50-story skyscraper Wednesday, apparently killing the pitcher and a second person in a crash that rained flaming debris onto the sidewalks and briefly raised fears of a terrorist attack.

New York Yankees starting pitcher Cory Lidle throws a pitch against the Los Angeles Angels during the first inning of their American League baseball game in Anaheim, California, in this August 26, 2006 file photo. Lidle was killed on Wednesday when his plane hit a Manhattan high-rise building, the Yankees' owner George Steinbrenner said. [Reuters]

A law enforcement official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Lidle ,an avid pilot who earned his flying license before the start of this past season,was aboard the single-engine aircraft when it slammed into the 20th floor of the high-rise on the Upper East Side of New York City's borough of Manhattan. And Mayor Michael Bloomberg said both people aboard were killed.

The official said Lidle's passport was found at the crash scene.

Federal Aviation Administration records showed the single-engine plane was registered to the athlete, who had repeatedly assured reporters in recent months that flying was safe and that the Yankees,whose catcher Thurman Munson was killed in 1979 in the crash of a plane he was flying, had no reason to worry.

The flying?" Lidle told The Philadelphia Inquirer this summer. "I'm not worried about it. I'm safe up there. I feel very comfortable with my abilities flying an airplane."

The crash came just four days after the Yankees' elimination from the Major League Baseball playoffs.

The law enforcement official said the plane had issued a distress call before the crash. The official said it was unknown whether Lidle was at the controls.