By TYLER KEPNER
Published: September 8 2006

When the Yankees fly, the pilots are not only in the cockpit. There is
another pilot in the main cabin, where the players sit. He is probably
studying his hand-held Global Positioning System receiver, tracking the
weather and noting the plane's precise speed and altitude.

Lidle, 3-2 with a 3.38 E.R.A. since joining the Yankees, could be their
fourth starter in the playoffs.

He is Cory Lidle, who has been a major league pitcher for nine years
and a pilot for seven months. He earned his pilot's license last
off-season and bought a four-seat airplane for $187,000. It is a Cirrus
SR20, built in 2002, with fewer than 400 hours in the air.

A player-pilot is still a sensitive topic for the Yankees, whose
captain, Thurman Munson, was killed in the crash of a plane he was
flying in 1979. Lidle, acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies on July
30, said his plane was safe.

"The whole plane has a parachute on it," Lidle said. "Ninety-nine
percent of pilots that go up never have engine failure, and the 1
percent that do usually land it. But if you're up in the air and
something goes wrong, you pull that parachute, and the whole plane goes
down slowly."

Lidle, 34, lives in West Covina, Calif., 20 miles or so east of Los
Angeles. On a trip to Arizona last season, Lidle saw a former teammate,
Tom Wilson, whose friend is a pilot.

Lidle became intrigued by how quickly he could navigate the Southwest
if he could fly a plane. He had never flown, but decided that if he
could learn in an off-season, he would make it his top priority.

The day after the Phillies' season ended, Lidle met with an
instructor, Tyler Stanger, in nearby Pomona, Calif. They flew to Long
Beach that day, and Lidle was hooked.

"He was probably my best student," Stanger said in a telephone
interview. "He learned very, very quickly, and a lot of it is desire.
He had huge desire.

"Really, anyone can learn how to fly. If you can drive a bus, you can
fly an airplane. But to learn quickly takes money and time. Of course,
Cory had plenty of money, and it was the off-season, so he had the
time."

Lidle, who is making $3.3 million this season, met with Stanger twice a
week, for three or four hours at a time, all winter. He became queasy
once, Stanger said, somewhere over New Mexico while returning from
Texas. Otherwise, Lidle was a natural.

Part of Stanger's job is to surprise students by simulating
emergencies. He will pull the throttle to the idle position,
essentially letting the plane coast as if the engine were failing.

Other times, he said, he would instruct a student to wear blinders so
only the instrument panel was visible, simulating bad weather. Then
Stanger would tilt the plane nose-high or nose-low, making the student
recover by trusting the instruments.

"Most people get kind of ruffled," Stanger said. "He was like,
'O.K., no big deal.' A lot of it is his mental state.

"On the mound, he has to hold in all the emotions and keep completely
focused. It's the same thing flying: If you're in an emergency, you
can't waste any time worrying. You have to take command of the
situation. A lot of people I fly with don't have that mentality. Cory
does."

Flying has become a passion for Lidle, who said he had spent about 95
solo hours in the air. After a recent day game at Yankee Stadium, he
took a train to Philadelphia, fetched his plane from a nearby airport
and flew it to Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, where he keeps it
during the season.

If Lidle re-signs with the Yankees, he would fly at his own risk; in
the Yankees' standard contract, a player who injures himself in an
off-field activity like flying would jeopardize the guaranteed money in
his deal.

For now, Lidle plans to enjoy flying this off-season, unburdened by the
notorious California traffic.

"It's basically to bring things a little closer to reach," he
said. "Now I can go to Pebble Beach if I want, and instead of driving
there for five hours, I can fly there in an hour and 45 minutes. I can
go to Arizona to golf, or Vegas, wherever."

On a conference call with reporters the day after he was traded, Lidle
criticized his former Phillies teammates for their effort near the
trade deadline. Lidle said he was not thinking before he spoke and
nearly forgot about the call because he was outside in the heat,
cleaning his plane.

The Phillies have done well without him, and the Yankees have thrived
with him and outfielder Bobby Abreu, who has hit .355 since also being
acquired in the trade. Lidle, who starts tonight in Baltimore, is 3-2
with a 3.38 earned run average in six starts with the Yankees.

Because they were off yesterday, the Yankees are skipping Jaret
Wright's turn in the rotation. The fact that they kept Lidle on
schedule could give Lidle the edge on Wright if the Yankees need a
fourth starter in the playoffs.

Manager Joe Torre, though, does not seem quite sold on Lidle, a finesse
pitcher who deliberately throws slower than 90 miles an hour so his
sinker fades better.

"He's one of those guys who gives you six strong innings, and then
maybe won't get out of the second," Torre said. "It's all about
command, all about throwing strikes, and if they're going to swing at
the balls that he throws.

"So you have to be prepared for that. That's why, on Friday, it
will be him, and Jaret will be lurking."

In other words, if Lidle struggles tonight, Wright will be his
parachute.

crosem@earthlink.net wrote:

Wow. That is just horribly prescient and ironic.