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NEW YORK (AP) ― The small plane that carried New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle to his death flew a popular sightseeing route that some lawmakers have tried to close for years because of safety and security concerns.

Many of those officials expressed shock Thursday that small aircraft are still allowed to fly so close to Manhattan's skyline in a post-Sept. 11 era.

"A smart terrorist could load up a small, little plane with biological, chemical or even nuclear material and fly up the Hudson or East rivers, no questions asked," said U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer. "I hope this will be a wake up call to the (Federal Aviation Administration) to re-examine flight patterns, which, amazingly enough, they haven't done since 9/11."

Lidle's single-engine plane collided with an apartment tower while flying over the East River, which separates Manhattan from Brooklyn and Queens and is lined with scores of skyscrapers and landmarks, including the United Nations.

Aviation officials have downplayed the potential threat posed by light aircraft, but FAA spokeswoman Laura J. Brown said in a written statement Thursday that the agency would review its guidelines for general aviation and flight restrictions as a result of the crash.

Much of the airspace over the rivers that encircle Manhattan is unrestricted for small aircraft flying under 1,100 feet, a little lower than the Empire State Building.

Planes and helicopters soaring beneath that ceiling aren't required to file flight plans or check in with air traffic controllers, as long as they stay above the water.

New York pilots said the path taken by Lidle's Cirrus SR20 on Wednesday is one of the most exhilarating, in part because of its proximity to major monuments. The plane looped around the Statue of Liberty, then followed the East River over the Brooklyn Bridge and past the U.N.

General aviation aircraft are allowed to go about as far north as Manhattan's 96th Street. There, they must either execute a U-turn to avoid the restricted airspace around LaGuardia Airport or get permission from air traffic control to go any further.

Lidle's plane collided with an apartment tower a short distance from that turnaround point.

Radar last recorded the plane's position as it was making a left turn, a quarter-mile north of the building, approximately 500 feet above the river's surface, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Flight instructor Stanley Ferber, of Brooklyn, said that while the low-altitude airspace is bustling with "a myriad of
helicopters and planes," there is more room than people on the ground realize.

"As a pilot, you always have to be on your toes, but it is not a tight situation," he said. "In all the time of my flying over New York, I've never had anything like a close call."

Still, it isn't a place to let your concentration wander, especially in the corridor over the East River. There, the water narrows in many spots to less than a half-mile wide, with towering skyscrapers to the West and LaGuardia's airspace to the East.

Ferber, 66, said he feels more comfortable flying in the loftier territory overseen by air traffic control, where there will be extra sets of eyes monitoring his position.

Pilot Jim Carroll, president of the Paramus Flying Club in New Jersey, said he makes East River jaunts infrequently because of its "uncomfortably close" proximity to the big Queens airport, but he, too, said the area is generally safe.

"It's not unsafely tight," he said. "There is a sense of a lot of space and a lot of room."

It is also tremendously beautiful.

Carroll's sightseeing trips over the Hudson take him from the George Washington Bridge to the Verrazano Narrows Bridge near the mouth of the bay and include spectacular views of the city impossible to achieve from the ground.

"I think it is a celebration of the right to be an American," he said. "To take it away would be tremendously disappointing."

It could also mean a loss of business for enterprises like the city's heliports, which handle an estimated 88,000 takeoffs and landings a year.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a recreational pilot with decades of experience, said he believes the skies are safe under the current rules.

"We have very few accidents for an awful lot of traffic," he said. "Every time you have an automobile accident, you're not going to go and close the streets or prohibit people from driving."

Other officials called for a crackdown.

Gov. George Pataki said Thursday that the FAA "needs to take a much tougher line" about general aviation flights over the city.

Schumer said the Hudson River approach to the city should be closed and all pilots of low-flying aircraft should submit flight plans before entering city airspace. U.S. Rep Anthony Weiner called the general aviation corridors around Manhattan "the Wild West" and said anyone flying near the island should be under the supervision of air trafficcontrollers.

All flights over New York and 29 other big cities were grounded after the Sept. 11 attacks, but the restrictions were lifted three months later.

Unnerved residents of the riverside tower struck by Lidle's plane said they have long been unsettled by the proximity of low-flying aircraft.

"I feel like I can see the pilot at times. It's that close," said Lillian Snower Beacham, who lives on the building's 36th
floor.

U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who represents the neighborhood where the crash took place, said she believed her constituents would support a ban on noncommercial planes and helicopters operating over the city.

"For years, on the Upper East Side, we have been one mistake or one mechanical problem away from a tragedy," she said.

Federal aviation accident records list relatively few general aviation accidents near Manhattan, considering the large numbers of craft flying.

Two helicopters rolled into the East River last year immediately after takeoff, causing injuries but no deaths. There were fatal helicopter crashes in 1997 and 1990. Passengers escaped unhurt when a small Cessna plane dived into the Hudson in 1988. Four people died when a seaplane and a police helicopter collided over the East River in 1983.

(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)