A mother and daughter were on board the small plane as its pilot reported smoke in the cockpit before crashing near Long Island homes, killing the older passenger and critically injuring the two others.
The burned and mangled remnants of the Piper PA 28 still lay in the North Lindenhurst field Monday, a day after narrowly missing a handful of homes and landing short of its destination.
The NTSB said the pilot of the single-engine plane declared an emergency while returning to Republic Airport in Farmingdale Sunday afternoon. The airport is roughly 20 miles east of New York City.
Suffolk County Police has said the group had taken off from the same airport at 2:18 p.m. and the pilot issued a mayday signal a short time later. Multiple home security cameras captured the fiery crash, with thick black smoke filling the air.
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"The two patients critically injured, severely burned, to my knowledge they were pulled from the plane from a civilian," North Lindenhurst Fire Dept. Chief Kenny Stallone said.
Roma Gupta, 63, died in the crash. Her daughter, 33-year-old Reeva, was listed in critical condition at Stony Brook Hospital with third-degree burns. Reeva is a physician's assistant in the Mount Sinai system, whose colleagues say she has a long, painful recover ahead.
The 23-year-old flight instructor operating the plane was also in critical condition Monday, according to the Danny Waizman Flight School, which owns the plane.
An attorney for the flight school said the pilot had all his ratings and certifications, and the plane involved in the crash had just passed two stringent inspections, the most recent last week.
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"It was a demonstration flight an introductory flight to see if people are interested so it’s not considered an actual flight lesson but they received a promotional coupon from Groupon and that’s how they found the flight school," said attorney Oleh Dekajlo.
Cockpit transmissions indicate the pilot was concerned about a fire. Why the plane crashed and what may have happened in the air has yet to be determined by investigators.
But emergency officials said it's fortunate the plane crashed where it did.
"The fatality is very unfortunate, but this could have been a lot worse," Stallone said. "I also like to think that he did pick the wooded area to avoid the houses."
Federal investigators are expected to return to the crash site for a third time on Tuesday to remove the wreckage for further analysis.
