Six dead after small plane crashes in upstate New York
A private plane crashed in New York's Columbia County on Saturday while preparing for a second landing attempt, with no survivors reported, according to officials.
Six people were on board the flight to Columbia County Airport in Ghent on their way to a holiday celebration with family, federal officials said at a news conference Sunday.
According to a family member, the three couples were flying in a Mitsubishi MU-2B bound for Columbia County Airport near Hudson, New York, for a 25th birthday celebration and Passover Seder.
The Mitsubishi MU-2B was en route to Columbia County Airport in Hudson, New York, when it crashed into an open field near Copake, a small town about 20 miles southeast of the airport, at 12:15 p.m. local time on April 12, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
According to Undersheriff Jacqueline Salvatore, the aircraft crashed on Two Town Road near Copake without causing any structural damage.
According to family friend John Santoro, his adult son, recent MIT graduate James Santoro, was killed in the crash.
Santoro' statement identified the others on board: Karenna Groff, a former MIT soccer player named the 2022 NCAA woman of the year; her father, Dr. Michael Groff, a neuroscientist; her mother, Dr. Joy Saini, a urogynecologist; her brother, Jared Groff, a 2022 graduate of Swarthmore College who worked as a paralegal; Alexia Couyutas Duarte, Jared Groff’s partner, who also graduated from Swarthmore and planned to attend Harvard Law School; and James Santoro, Karenna Groff’s boyfriend.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which is looking into the crash, said it was unclear what caused it. According to Undersheriff Jacqueline Salvatore, the aircraft crashed shortly after noon near Two Town Road in Columbia County, causing no structural damage. Snow and moisture on the ground were hampering response efforts, Ms. Salvatore said.
“It’s in the middle of a field and it’s pretty muddy, so accessibility is difficult,” she said.
Todd Inman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, stated at a news conference on Sunday that all six passengers were removed from the plane and that none were hospitalized.
“The aircraft was compressed, buckled and embedded into the terrain,” Inman said. "The aircraft was, in fact, crashed at a high rate of descent into the ground."
According to NTSB officials, the plane departed from Westchester County Airport in West Harrison, just north of New York City and about 100 miles south of Ghent.
According to Inman, the pilot had abandoned one landing attempt and was preparing for a second when the plane collided with the ground at high speed.
"The pilot reported a missed approach," Albert Nixon, the NTSB investigator in charge of the crash investigation, stated at the news conference.
The Columbia County Airport air traffic control tower attempted to contact him four times but was unsuccessful, he said. According to Nixon, the radio contact began as an attempt to notify the pilot of a low-altitude warning.
The pilot remained silent, he said. "There was no distress call" before the impact, Nixon stated.
According to Inman, the Mitsubishi MU-2B is a twin-turboprop aircraft with a pressurized cabin similar to commercial jets, allowing it to fly higher and farther than many noncommercial aircraft.
