CONCORD, Mass. (AP) _ A small plane crashed Saturday in a heavily wooded area of Concord, killing a former surgeon for the New York Air National Guard and his wife, authorities said.
Separately, a small plane crashed Saturday evening near an interstate in Fontana, Calif., killing two people.
In Concord, Dr. Ravindra F. Shah, 64, and his wife, Manjula, 65, of Oswego, N.Y., were the only people aboard the four-seat Cessna 182 when it crashed shortly after 11 a.m., said FAA spokesman Jim Peters. It was not immediately clear who was piloting the plane.
The pilot did not indicate any problems with the plane when speaking to flight controllers just prior to the plane's approach to Hanscom Field in Bedford, Peters said. Peters said the plane turned northwest, then back to the south before flight controllers lost track of it.
There was fog in Concord about the time of the crash, and authorities are looking into the weather as a possible factor.
Ravindra Shah, who was responsible for medical recruiting and promoting flying safety with the New York Air National Guard, provided medical advice and support to the emergency responders on duty at Ground Zero after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, said Scott Sandman, a spokesman for the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs.
In the California crash, the plane slammed into a dry creek near Interstate 15 and caught fire, according to Clifford Ellis of the San Bernardino County Fire Department.
Federal Aviation Administration investigators were trying to identify the plane, which showed no visible registration number.
``We don't know where it took off from, and we are still trying to identify the victims,'' sheriff's spokesman Chip Patterson said.
Fontana is about 50 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.
