Last week was destined to be recorded as the most tragic week in the history of aviation in New York. Following the helicopter crash into the Hudson River on Thursday, April 10, which resulted in the deaths of all 6 people on board, two days later on Saturday, a small private plane crashed in upstate New York, once again claiming the lives of all 6 people on board.
The victims in upstate New York belonged to one family, who had originally planned to travel to the Catskills to celebrate a birthday and spend the Passover holiday.
According to a press conference by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the twin-engine Mitsubishi MU-2B plane crashed into a muddy field near the New York town of Copake, close to the Massachusetts border, on Saturday afternoon. Prior to the crash, the pilot had reported missing the landing route to the air traffic control at Columbia County Airport.
NTSB officials stated that footage obtained showed the plane was intact before the crash and hit the ground at high speed vertically.
The elite family who perished includes 26-year-old Karenna Groff, a graduate of the biomedical engineering program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, former college soccer star who was elected as the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Female Athlete of the Year in 2022; her father, neurosurgeon Michael Groff; her mother, urology specialist Joy Saini; brother Jared Groff, a graduate of the prestigious liberal arts college Swarthmore College; Jared’s girlfriend Alexia Couyutas Duarte, also an alumna of Swarthmore College who was set to attend Harvard Law School in the fall; and Karenna’s boyfriend, mathematics graduate from MIT, James Santoro.
The plane took off from Westchester County Airport and was scheduled to land at Columbia County Airport, but crashed about 10 miles from its destination. The plane was owned and piloted by father Michael Groff.
NTSB stated that they will be on site for approximately one week, and a full investigation report may take 12 to 24 months to complete.