Three Killed in Light Aircraft Crash on Long Island

May 6, 2016
Abram I. Bohrer

The New York plane crash attorneys at the Bohrer & Lukeman law firm are following the story of a plane crash in Syosset, New York on Tuesday, May 3.

Authorities are investigating the cause of the small plane crash in which three passengers were killed. The Beech BE35 aircraft crashed shortly after the pilot sent a mayday distress call at around 3:30pm. The plane was flying to Plainville, Connecticut, from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Witnesses on the ground heard a loud boom and were forced to dive for cover as the 43-year-old aircraft broke up in flight at around 7,000 feet. Debris from the plane was scattered over a two-mile radius.

The Nassau County Traffic Safety Board senior investigator Robert Gretz reported that the pilot expressed issues with the plane’s instrument panel to air traffic control shortly before the crash. The pilot also reported that he was having trouble maintaining the aircraft and that a vacuum pump had failed.

Gretz said that parts of the plane including its engine have been recovered by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). “We’re going to continue to work today to recover pieces of the airplane, primarily the ones in other people’s yards,” Gretz clarified at a press conference held on May 4.

The NTSB has ruled out an explosion as a cause of the in-flight breakup but officials from the agency asserted that many factors – such as weather conditions, the plane’s condition, the pilot’s experience, recent maintenance – still need to be probed before the cause of the plane crash can be determined.

The general aviation attorneys at Bohrer & Lukeman are closely following the developments of this accident. The plane crash lawyers at Bohrer & Lukeman have years of experience helping the victims of general aviation accidents. The law firm will closely follow the official investigation and perform its own review of the plane crash.