Plane carrying six people from the same family crashed near the airport where it was supposed to land.
On Saturday (12), a tragic plane crash shocked the state of New York, in the United States. A small plane, model Mitsubishi MU2B40 , crashed in a field about 16 kilometers from Columbia County Airport, the flight’s final destination.
There were six people on board from the same family, and unfortunately, none of them survived the impact. The pilot of the aircraft was neurosurgeon Michael Groff, who was traveling with his wife, surgeon Joy Saini, as well as their two children and their respective partners.
Death of six people from the same family
The family was on their way to the Catskills Mountains to celebrate a birthday in conjunction with the Easter holiday. The mood was celebratory, but the trip ended in tragedy, leaving family and friends devastated.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the pilot contacted the Columbia County Airport control tower to report that he had missed the initial approach. He requested a new flight plan but did not respond to subsequent communication attempts from controllers.
Authorities said they attempted to issue low-altitude alerts three times, but there was no response. No distress calls were recorded, indicating that the situation escalated quickly and unexpectedly. The radio silence further heightened tension among controllers.
Plane would have been intact before the crash
According to a preliminary analysis by the NTSB, based on a video that captured the moment of the crash, the plane appeared intact before the impact, but descended at high speed, which indicates a total loss of control in the final phase of the flight.