This plane crash was an accident, but it illustrates how easy it would be for terrorists to fly a small plane into, say, the UN, which is only a 45 min. walk from the Bellaire. Or the new Apple store. (Don't laugh - read the story.) My building - like the Bellaire - is one of dozens of highrises which make up the Manhattan skyline, and none are targets in themselves. But random plane crashes could be NYC's version of suicide bombings in Israel: impossible to predict or to stop, at least until our intelligence apparatus caught up. (We could also be subjected to street-level suicide attacks but, since none have taken place so far, I'm going to assume that a combination of local, state, national, and international crime-fighting and intelligence agencies are doing their job, rather than assume that none have been attempted.)

Although this crash was an accident, I fear that terrorists now see how easy it was for a small plane to fly undetected into a Manhattan building. Or into any large urban building anywhere.

Or simply plummet into a large urban gathering place. I live 15 blocks from Times Square. On New Year's Eve and the 4th of July I worry. The police cordons and crowd control seem very thorough, but I can't believe that all backpacks are searched. On New Year's Eve, everyone wears bulky clothing against the cold, and anyone could be wearing a bomb belt. Maybe the police dogs would sniff them all out. But no one could prevent a plane crash like the one today. How about a plane crash with a large bomb on board?

Then there are the subways. It's funny what different people will obsess on. Suspicious packages? Eh. Since reading about this scenario, I worry about a small nuke in the NY harbor causing a tsunami that swamps the city. All the tunnels and subways would be flooded. Imagine being underground. Your subway train suddenly screeches to a halt. Perhaps the conductor has time to say something about evacuating, then the wave hits, people frantically try to claw their way out of the car but unless you are in the station there is no way to get above the rising water, and maybe not even then.

Well, we can all think of ten more scenarios without trying. This stuff doesn't keep me up at night, but it is always at the edge of my consciousness. But in that respect am I different from anyone else in today's world?

UPADATE: The speed and precision of the response by NYC police and firefighters locally, and the FAA and NORAD nationally, is somewhat comforting.