Six people die in private plane crash in New York City

All six passengers aboard a small private aircraft were killed when the plane crashed over the weekend in New York state. The aircraft, a Mitsubishi MU-2B, was en route to Columbia County Airport when it went down near Copake Township, a rural area north of New York City along the eastern bank of the Hudson River.

According to the New York Times, the deceased were three couples on their way to a birthday celebration, as confirmed by a family member of one of the couples. Among the deceased were two surgeons, their two children, and the children's partners.

The pilot was the father of the family. His identity has been verified as that of Michael Groff, a neurosurgeon who had been licensed to fly for several years. He already had extensive flying experience. He was accompanied by his wife, Joy Saini, a pelvic surgeon.

His daughter, Karenna Groff, was a medical student at NYU Langone and a former star soccer player at M.I.T., where she was named NCAA Woman of the Year in 2022. James Santoro, her partner, was an investment banker and planned to propose to her this summer, according to a family statement picked up by the press.

The Groffs' second son, Jared, was a paralegal at a hedge fund. His partner, Alexia Couyutas Duarte, was scheduled to attend Harvard Law School this fall.

There is an open investigation but the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has not yet specified what the reason was that caused the small plane to lose altitude and crash. According to the investigation, the plane was approaching Columbia County Airport when the pilot reported a missed approach and asked for guidance for another approach to the runway. The airport controller then received an alert that the plane was flying low, but was unable to contact the pilot. He said there was "no reason to believe" the plane was unsafe to fly.