NYC- Yankee pitcher Cory Lidle was instantly killed yesterday when his small plane slammed into an Upper East Side high-rise and exploded in flames.

The crash, which also killed Lidle’s flight instructor, spewed fiery debris onto the street, spurred a frenzied evacuation of building residents, and sent military fighter jets scrambling over Manhattan amid fears of another terror attack.

“[The plane] was sputtering. It looked like it lost a tail rudder. It went into the building sideways,” said Erroll Gindi, a witness to the disaster at 524 E. 72nd St., on the corner of York Avenue. “There was a deafening crash, and flames shot out of the building.”