Investigators outline final moments of upstate New York plane crash that killed former college soccer star and family
The victims of the April 12 crash in Copake, New York, included Karenna Groff, a former MIT soccer player named the 2022 NCAA woman of the year; her physician parents, Dr. Michael Groff and Dr. Joy Saini; her brother, Jared Groff, and his partner, Alexia Couyutas Duarte; and Karenna Groff's boyfriend, James Santoro.
The National Transportation Safety Board, in a preliminary report issued Friday, said the private plane departed Westchester County Airport in White Plains, New York, at around 11:30 a.m. heading north to Columbia County Airport in Hudson.
6 Officials search through the site of a deadly plane crash in Copake, New York on April 13, 2025.
NTSB
6 An aerial picture captured the site of the Mitsubishi MU2B airplane crash on April 12, 2025.
NTSB
6 Dr. Michael Groff, Karenna Groff, Dr. Jooy Saini, and James Santoro were identified as the victims of the crash.
AP
Piloted by Michael Groff, the plane had left the Boston suburbs early Saturday morning, picking up Karenna Groff and Santoro in White Plains before making the short trip to the Catskills to celebrate Karenna Goff's 25th birthday.
But at about 11:57 a.m., Michael Groff informed air traffic control that he'd missed the initial approach to the runway at Columbia County Airport, according to the report.
The controller then gave him new instructions for the landing, which Groff acknowledged a little after 12 p.m.
6 Alexia Couyutas Duarte, one of the victims of the crash, poses with her family after her graduation from Swarthmore College.
AP
6 Debris from the plane crash pile up in the field in upstate New York.
NTSB
About a minute later, though, the controller warned Groff the plane was flying at a low altitude, the report states.
The pilot never responded, and, despite multiple warnings, air traffic control received no further radio transmissions from the plane until radar contact was eventually lost.
The Mitsubishi MU-2B-40 crashed in snow covered terrain roughly 10 miles south of the airport.
Investigators didn't provide an exact cause of the crash in the preliminary report.
6 The crash site in relation to Columbia County Airport and the New York-Massachusetts border.
Mike Guillen/NY Post Design
But they noted that all major components of the aircraft found within a 150-foot debris field and that no significant weather advisories were in effect in the region at the time of the crash.
NTSB officials have previously said overcast conditions may have impacted the pilot's visibility and that an initial investigation had not turned up any issues with the aircraft.
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