No survivors were reported after a private plane crashed while preparing for a second landing attempt at Columbia County in New York on Saturday, authorities said.
Six people were traveling to Columbia County Airport in Gante on the way to a holiday celebration with the family were on board, federal officials said at a press conference on Sunday.
The friend of the John Santoro family told The Associated Press that his adult son, the recent graduate of MIT, James Santoro, died in the accident.
Santoro’s statement identified others on board: Karenna Groff, a former MIT soccer player appointed the Woman of the NCAA 2022; his father, Dr. Michael Groff, neuroscientist; His mother, Dr. Joy Saini, a uroginecologist; His brother, Jared Groff, a 2022 graduate from Swarthmore College who worked as a legal assistant; Alexia Couyutas Duarte, partner of Jared Groff, who also graduated from Swarthmore and planned to attend Harvard’s Law Faculty; and James Santoro, Karenna Groff’s boyfriend.
The six were removed from the plane and none was hospitalized, Todd Inman, a member of the National Transport Security Board, said at the Press Conference on Sunday.
“The plane was compressed, fastened and embedded in the field,” Inman said. “The plane, in fact, crashed at a high descent rate to the ground.”
The plane, a MITSUBISHI MU-2B with an experienced pilot in the controls, crashed into a field near Copake around 12:15 pm on Saturday, according to NTSB and officials of the Federal Aviation Administration. The plane was about 10 miles south of its destination, Columbia County Airport.
The plane flew outside the Westchester County airport in West Harrison, just north of New York City and about 100 miles south of Ghent, NTSB officials said.
The pilot had abandoned a landing attempt and was preparing a second attempt when the plane hit the floor at high speed, Inman said.
“The pilot reported a lost approach,” said Albert Nixon, NTSB researcher in charge of accident investigation, at the press conference.
The air -traffic control tower of Columbia County Airport tried to contact it four times without seeing it, he said. The radio contact began with an attempt to inform the pilot of a low altitude warning, said Nixon.
The pilot remained silent, he said. “There was no call of anguish” before the impact, said Nixon.
The pilot flew by instrument, not visually, and there was snow on the ground, NTSB officials said. The conditions included cloudy skies and a temperature of 35 degrees, according to data from the National Meteorological Service.
The researchers have reviewed the accident video, said Inman. It was not clear where the video was recorded exactly, and indicated that it was unlikely to be released publicly.
Mitsubishi Mu-2B is a double turbopropopop-procurement aircraft with a pressurized cabin, such as commercial airplanes, said Inman, which would allow him to fly higher and farther than many non-commercial planes.
He said the plane changed hands last year and at that time he obtained “a very improved plane package.”
The plane was recorded in an entity called Dynamic Spine Solutions LLC, based in Weston, Massachusetts, according to the record information of the FAA’s tail number. Dr. Michael Groff appears in the state incorporation records as the only agent and contact of the entity.
The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation of deaths or the identities of those on board.
