A Piper PA-34 Seneca being flown for Angel Flight Northeast crashed in Garoga, N.Y., killing at least two of the occupants and likely the third. The aircraft took off from Hanscom Field in Bedford, Mass., bound for Rome, N.Y., and crashed about 60 miles from its destination. Witnesses reported seeing the aircraft, minus a wing, drop into a reservoir next to a campground crowded for the long weekend. Two bodies were recovered and the third was believed to be trapped inside. Angel Flight Northeast confirmed the crash. “Angel Flight NE staff and volunteers are tremendously saddened by this tragedy and we all offer our thoughts and prayers to the families of those affected,” said Larry Camerlin, the group’s founder and president, in a statement.
Angel Flight Northeast did not identify the occupants of the aircraft or the nature of the purpose of the flight, although the normal mission is to deliver patients in need of far-flung medical care to the facility that can provide it. “Our volunteer pilots are the most compassionate and generous individuals who donate their time, aircraft and fuel to transport patients and loved ones for free to essential medical care that would otherwise not be readily available to them,” said Camerlin. “There are no words that can adequately express our sorrow.”
