Saturday's small plane crash in the Columbia County Town of Copake killed six people. The loss is being felt locally and far away.
The twin-engine Mitsubishi MU-2B was carrying six members of a family of physicians and distinguished student-athletes. Former MIT soccer player Karenna Groff, the 2022 NCAA woman of the year, her boyfriend James Santoro, and Groff's parents were among those killed when the private plane went down shortly after noon Saturday into a muddy field in Copake.
The National Transportation Safety Board says the family had been traveling for a holiday celebration when the plane crashed. The NTSB's Todd Inman spoke Monday afternoon.
"As of this afternoon, we've had our drone and UAS team in. They've done a full aerial view and mapping of the entire records location and the surrounding area. They completed those activities about two hours ago, and they have a lot of good imagery that we believe will be very helpful for the post impact inspection and evaluation. We've also conducted additional video and photo documentation of the scene and surrounding areas, and I want to call out again, Columbia County Sheriff's office, they provided us with over 1,000 images post impact of what occurred and how the plane was found that will be very helpful for us, as some of the items in the wreckage had to be moved for the extraction of the passengers," said Inman.
Groff’s father Michael, a neurosurgeon and pilot, was flying at the time of the crash and had reported missing the approach to Columbia County Airport near Hudson before asking for another approach.
Inman says the NTSB has offered accredited status to the Japanese Safety Board to be a party to the investigation, since the aircraft was built there by Mitusbishi.
Bill Gerlach is CEO of the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce. He says news of the crash has left everyone shellshocked.
"I think everybody's kind of dealing coming off the weekend," Gerlock said. "And not only was it was challenging weather here Saturday morning, there were some power outages and whatnot. So all in all, I think everybody got the word mostly late Saturday and yesterday, and I think everybody's still just reeling with the terrible news."
The Columbia County Airport had no comment.
Inman says NTSB investigators are expected to be on the scene through the week and that interviews have begun in Albany.
"We'll be interviewing every one of the controllers that were involved in the entire flight and making sure that we're getting all the details along with the management," said Inman.
Although a full investigation could take up to two years, a preliminary report will be issued within the next 30 days.
Swarthmore College issued a statement Monday saying that three of the six crash victims were alumni. The Pennsylvania school published a letter grieving the deaths on its website that says in part "While it is too soon to have details, we will share any public plans as they become available.”
