A Beechcraft Bonanza crashed in a residential area on New York’s Long Island Tuesday after the pilot declared an emergency, reporting a failed vacuum system. All three people on board are dead and the aircraft appears to have broken up in flight. The Bonanza departed Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, about 12:45 p.m., heading for Plainville, Connecticut, according to news reports. About 2:30 p.m., the pilot declared an emergency and reported a vacuum failure. According to audio from LiveATC.net, the pilot told New York Approach he was partial panel and “VFR over the top” and did not want prolonged flying in IMC to get below the clouds. After a few exchanges and receiving a vector, the pilot said, “we are IMC at this time.” Later, he said, “I just lost a little bit more control here,” then “we just lost more of our panel.” Radar contact was lost moments later.
The aircraft’s FAA registry shows the model is a V35B, registered in Bristol, Connecticut, near Plainville. Witnesses near the crash site on Long Island reported hearing an aircraft overhead, then seeing debris raining down from an overcast sky. Authorities recovered the bodies and the NTSB arrived at the scene to find hundreds of pieces of the aircraft and other items scattered around the neighborhood. A few schools in the area had a short lockdown just after the crash, an NBC station in New York reported.
