HARRIETSTOWN, N.Y. (WCAX) – Federal aviation officials have confirmed that three people were killed in a small plane crash in Northern New York late Monday night, and the cause remains under investigation.
Data from FlightAware shows a plane registered to Jasper Air LLC, an aviation company based in Ocean City, New Jersey, arrived in the Saranac Lake area on Monday. It left that same night from the Adirondack Regional Airport.
The FAA said it was during takeoff from the airport that the flight crashed into a wooded area on a portion of the Adirondack Rail Trail, about 2 miles from the airport, northwest of Saranac Lake in Harrietstown.
New York State Police said they were notified around 11:15 p.m. of a downed aircraft in the area of Hearf’s Way and State Route 186, near the Adirondack Regional Airport. They said the two-engine Piper Aerostar took off from the airport just after 10:30 p.m. and lost communication soon after.
Search crews located the aircraft, which they say had been destroyed by the impact and a post-crash fire in a wooded area. The FAA said the pilot and two passengers on board died.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the section of the trail where the plane crashed, between McMaster Road and Route 186, remained closed to walkers and bikers.
“We were confused and a little put out because we had to take a five-mile detour, but they didn’t give us any information,” biker Zach Benn said.
Benn was unaware a plane had crashed in the area, and said it was heartbreaking to hear.
“It’s obviously, it’s terrible. What can you say about a plane crash? It’s no good,” Benn said.
The NTSB said the plane has been recovered. However, there is still no word on the identities of the pilot or passengers, or what caused the crash.
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