Photo illustration in Brazil – 13 Nov 2022
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) —The body of a pilot and a passenger were discovered in a heavily wooded area during a search and rescue operation after their single-engine Beechcraft A36 disappeared from radar on approach to the Westchester County Airport Thursday night.
Preliminary information indicated the pilot of the single-engine Beechcraft reported engine trouble about a mile (1.6 km) from the Westchester County Airport around 6:15 p.m., Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson Elizabeth Isham Cory said. The airport is near White Plains, about 39 miles (63 km) north of JFK.
The plane was flying from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to the Cuyahoga County Airport in Richmond Heights, Ohio according to Cory.
Westchester police spokesperson Kieran O’Leary said the pilot had radioed air traffic controllers that the plane was approaching the White Plains airport, but then went silent.
“There’s a search under way to determine what happened with that aircraft,” he said later Thursday.
Emergency responders including Westchester police and firefighters combed through nearby woods and a reservoir, O’Leary said before finding the wreckage.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the incident.
The fatal crash occurred during stormy weather conditions although officials say the flight had been cleared for takeoff.
The identity of the pilot and the passenger have not yet been released.
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