The crash of a twin-engine plane into a Dutchess County home Saturday as it headed to Republic Airport in East Farmingdale killed the pilot, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board said Sunday.
The ages and identities of the pilot and his two male passengers, who survived the 4:13 p.m. crash, were not released.
A person inside the home in LaGrangeville, a rural community about 100 miles from Republic Airport, was also killed and another occupant suffered serious injuries, officials said Saturday. The status of a third person who went missing after the Cessna 303 hit the ranch-style home on South Smith Road was unknown Sunday. LaGrangeville is about 15 miles southeast of Poughkeepsie.
Peter Knudson, a spokesman for the NTSB, said Sunday that the plane had taken off earlier Saturday from Republic Airport with Orange County Airport in upstate Montgomery its destination.
After the plane took off from Orange County Airport for its return flight to Republic, the aircraft landed at Sky Acres Airport in LaGrangeville to refuel, said Capt. Paul DeQuarto of the State Police on Saturday.
Not long after the six-seat plane left the LaGrangeville airport it had "engine trouble then went down," DeQuarto said.
Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro said: “All of Dutchess County extends our thoughts and prayers to the families that have been impacted, the lives lost, the individuals injured.”
The site of the crash is about 2,000 feet south of the runway at Sky Acres, an airport that serves small aircraft.
The Poughkeepsie Journal reported that smoke could be seen rising from the home. Firefighters responded to the scene, as did police and emergency medical vehicles from surrounding communities.
The NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration will investigate the cause of the crash, officials said.
With AP
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