WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y. – One pilot and one passenger were found dead after a small plane crashed Thursday near New York’s Westchester County Airport, authorities said Friday.
A single-engine plane lost radio contact with the airport and disappeared around 5:30 p.m., police said. The plane was found in a wooded area near the airport just before 11 p.m., county spokesperson Catherine Cioffi said Friday morning.
Police and county officials have not yet identified the people or explained their route.
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Plane took off from JFK airport, was bound for Cleveland area
The plane, a Beechcraft Bonanza BE36, took off from John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens at 4:58 p.m., said Kieran O’Leary, spokesperson for the county police. Its initial destination was Cuyahoga County Airport in Richmond Heights, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland.
The pilot reported to JFK airport that he had a warning light for low oil pressure at 5:25 p.m., and JFK’s command advised him to go to Westchester County Airport.
Cioffi said search and rescue efforts began at 5:38 p.m.
O’Leary said the search began in the area of the airport and over the Connecticut border into Greenwich. Dive teams were staged because the airport is near Westchester County’s Rye Lake and a reservoir.
Because Thursday’s weather was rainy and the area around the airport is heavily wooded, rescuers were searching by foot and drones from various agencies were being deployed, O’Leary said.