Posted on 05/25/2013 10:51:10 AM PDT by oxcart
EPHRATAH, N.Y. (AP) -- Divers searched a large pond while investigators combed nearby woods Saturday for any sign of the pilot of a volunteer Angel Flight that crashed in upstate New York, killing two passengers.
The plane's passengers were found dead Friday night near where the small plane crashed in Ephratah, about an hour west of Albany, Fulton County Sheriff Thomas Lorey said. The bulk of the plane was found submerged in a pond, he said.
Angel Flight is a nonprofit group that arranges free air transportation for sick patients from volunteer pilots. Larry Camerlin, president and founder of Angel Flight Northeast, said the organization was "tremendously saddened" by news of the crash.
The twin-engine Piper PA 34 had departed from Hanscom Field in Bedford, Mass., and was headed to Rome, N.Y., before it crashed just after 5 p.m., Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said.
Officials haven't yet identified the passengers or pilot.
"We were just leaving to get something to eat, and we heard this noise," Dudley said.
"We looked up and saw the plane flipping in the air. Then it fell apart," she said. "Parts and pieces of it were flying through the sky, and a body fell out."
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating what might have caused the crash.
Visibility at the time in Rome was 10 miles, said National Weather Service meteorologist Brian Montgomery. It was slightly raining with winds of 13 to 14 mph.
Angel Flight Northeast said it has set up free air transportation and medical care for more than 65,000 children and adults on about 60,000 flights covering more than 12 million miles. It was founded in 1996.
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May God bless these servants and their families
Nobody knows who the passengers or pilot who were on board???
Was their was no flight manifest filed before takeoff??
Nobody knows who the passengers or pilot who were on board???
Was their was no flight manifest filed before takeoff??
Even if they know, they won’t identify them for the media until next of kin have been notified.
No such thing exists for general aviation aircraft.
If a flight plan is filed, it will include # of souls on board, but not names.
However, if the flight is not conducted under instrument rules no flight plan is required.
Dear Lord...they didn't say anything about an explosion so one would have to presume either a collision or some sort of catastrophic structural failure.
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