An "Angel Flight" carrying a Long Island husband and wife to Boston for cancer treatment crashed into a grocery store parking lot in suburban Massachusetts on Tuesday morning, killing all three people on board, aviation officials said.
The flight originated at Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach and crashed in the parking lot of a Hannaford grocery store in Easton, Mass., at 10:17 a.m. The crash site is located on Route 123, about 20 miles southwest of Boston.
Police and aviation officials have not identified the victims. But an official told Newsday that the couple was from Riverhead. That official said preliminary indications are that the pilot did not declare an emergency before the crash.
"There was no indication of a problem," the official said. "The pilot did not declare an emergency -- or a 'Mayday.' '"
The plane was being operated by Angel Flight Northeast, based in North Andover, Mass. Angel Flights carry people who need to travel for medical treatment, but cannot afford it. Angel Flight Northeast spokeswoman Amy Camerlin told The Associated Press the flight was bound for Logan International Airport, carrying the cancer patient, who was headed for treatment at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
"We at Angel Flight are deeply saddened by this news and our sympathies go out to the families of those involved," said Camerlin, in a statement released Tuesday afternoon.
Those records indicate the plane was built in 1956 and was registered to Janet C. Keene of Brookfield, Conn. Her husband, Kenneth Keene, told The Associated Press that his wife had inherited the aircraft -- but that neither of them were licensed to fly the plane.
He said they sometimes hired a pilot and that the plane was used for an Angel Flight about once a month.
He called the crash "a disaster" and said he knew of no problems with the aircraft.
A crash team from the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the accident, officials said.
The Associated Press reported that Hannaford Supermarket store manager Arthur Dechellis said the plane crashed in an area where people rarely park and no cars were hit.
"I didn't see it, I just heard an explosion," he said. "When I looked outside, it was on fire."
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/ny-liplan0813,0,4510297.story
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