Single-engine plane crashes in suburban New York; 2 dead

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) — A small plane crashed near a suburban New York airport, killing the pilot and his passenger, authorities said Friday.

The single-engine Beechcraft A36 was found just before 11 p.m. Thursday in a wooded area near White Plains, said Westechester County Executive spokesperson Catherine Cioffi. The pilot and his passenger were found dead, Cioffi said.

The plane was headed from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to the Cuyahoga County Airport in Richmond Heights, Ohio, when the pilot reported engine trouble about 6:15 p.m. Thursday, Federal Aviation Administration officials said in a news release.

The pilot was about a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the Westchester County Airport when he reported trouble, said FAA spokesperson Elizabeth Isham Cory. The airport is near White Plains, about 40 miles (63 kilometers) north of JFK.

The pilot radioed air traffic controllers to tell them the plane was approaching the White Plains airport, but then went silent, said Westchester police spokesperson Kieran O’Leary.

Emergency responders including Westchester police and firefighters combed through the woods and a nearby reservoir for the plane, O’Leary said. New York City Department of Environmental Protection officers were also involved because the reservoir is part of the city’s water system, he said.

Westchester County officials planned a briefing on the fatal crash later Friday.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.