Officials: Plane en route to Long Island crashes in Hudson Valley, killing 2
A small plane headed to East Farmingdale with three people aboard crashed into a house in Dutchess County on Saturday, killing a male passenger and one person in the home, an official said.
The other two men on the plane survived and a second person in the home was seriously hurt and a third missing, State Police spokesman Steven Nevel said.
The twin-engine Cessna 303 crashed into the ranch-style home on South Smith Road in Union Vale at 4:13 p.m., said Capt. Paul DeQuarto with the State Police. No identities were released by officials.
“It’s a very sad and tragic event what happened tonight,” he said during a Saturday evening news conference. The plane took off from Orange County Airport in Montgomery, then stopped to fuel up at the Sky Acres Airport in LaGrangeville, and was headed to Republic Airport in East Farmingdale before it crashed into the house, destroying it, DeQuarto said.
The plane “landed at Sky Acres to refuel and it was leaving from Sky Acres headed back down to the Republic Airport in Farmingdale Long Island,” he said.
The plane had “engine trouble and then went down,” DeQuarto said.
He said he did not know the age of the deceased passenger aboard the flight and didn’t elaborate on the relationship between the three male passengers on board.
A Cessna 303 aircraft crashed into a house on South Smith Road in Union Vale in Dutchess County on Saturday. Credit: @MercedesTVnews
Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro said: “All of Dutchess County extends our thoughts and prayers to the families that have been impacted, the lives lost, the individuals injured.”
A spokeswoman with the Federal Aviation Administration responded to questions from Newsday in an email Saturday at 6:46 p.m. The email said the aircraft departed from Republic Airport and was headed to Sky Acres before it crashed. The information in the FAA’s response was said to be “preliminary” and the agency did not explain why it differed with what State Police said.
The crash happened about one mile from that Hudson Valley airport, which serves mostly small aircraft.
The Poughkeepsie Journal reported that smoke could be seen rising from the home. Firefighters responded to the scene, as did police and emergency medical vehicles from surrounding communities.
A Cessna 303 aircraft crashed into a house on South Smith Road in Union Vale in Dutchess County on Saturday. Credit: @MercedesTVnews
The rural town of Union Vale, the site of the crash, is about 15 miles southeast of Poughkeepsie.
The FAA will investigate while the National Transportation Safety Board will determine the likely cause of the crash, an FAA official said.
With AP
Sarra Sounds Off, Ep.16: From Island to island, how football helped overcome tragedy Newsday's Gregg Sarra talks to Carey football player James McGrath about how he has persevered after losing his parents at a young age, and to the Lahainaluna (Hawaii) High School football coach about how his team persevered after the Maui wildfires of 2023, plus a behind-the-scenes look at the All-Long Island teams photo shoot.
Sarra Sounds Off, Ep.16: From Island to island, how football helped overcome tragedy Newsday's Gregg Sarra talks to Carey football player James McGrath about how he has persevered after losing his parents at a young age, and to the Lahainaluna (Hawaii) High School football coach about how his team persevered after the Maui wildfires of 2023, plus a behind-the-scenes look at the All-Long Island teams photo shoot.
