No survivors were reported after a private plane crashed while preparing for a second landing attempt in New York’s Columbia County on Saturday, officials said.
Six people traveling to Columbia County Airport in Ghent, New York, en route to a planned holiday celebration with family, were on board, federal officials said at a news conference Sunday.
Family friend John Santoro said his adult son, recent MIT graduate James Santoro, died in the crash, according to a statement the elder Santoro gave to The Associated Press.
Santoro’s 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 Swarthmore and planned to attend Harvard Law School; and James Santoro, Karenna Groff’s boyfriend.
All six were pulled from the plane and none was hospitalized, Todd Inman, member of the National Transportation Safety Board, said during Sunday’s news conference.
“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.”
The plane, a Mitsubishi MU-2B with an experienced pilot at the controls, crashed into a field near Copake, New York, at about 12:15 p.m. Saturday, according to NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration officials. The aircraft was about 10 miles south of its destination of Columbia County Airport.
The plane was flying out of 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 try when the plane hit the ground at a high speed, Inman said.
“The pilot reported a missed approach,” Albert Nixon, the NTSB investigator in charge of the crash probe, said at the news conference.
The Columbia County Airport air traffic control tower attempted to contact him four times to no avail, he said. The radio contact started with an attempt to inform the pilot of a low-altitude warning, Nixon said.
The pilot remained silent, he said. “There was no distress call” before impact, Nixon said.
The pilot was flying by instrument, not visually, and there was snow on the ground, NTSB officials said. The conditions included overcast skies and a temperature of 35 degrees, according to National Weather Service data.
Investigators have reviewed video of the crash, Inman said. It wasn’t clear where exactly the footage was recorded, and the board member indicated it was unlikely it would be released publicly.
The Mitsubishi MU-2B is a twin-turboprop aircraft with a pressurized cabin, like commercial jets, Inman said, which would allow it to fly higher and longer distances than many noncommercial planes.
He said the aircraft changed hands last year and at the time got “a very upgraded avionics package.”
The plane was registered to an entity called Dynamic Spine Solutions, LLC, based in Weston, Massachusetts, according to FAA tail number registration information. Dr. Michael Groff is listed in state incorporation records as the entity’s sole agent and contact.
The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation of fatalities or the identities of those on board.
