In New York: According to reports in the media, a woman of Indian descent died while her daughter and the instructor pilot were injured in a small plane crash in the New York area while they were on a "demonstration flight."
According to the NBC New York TV channel, Roma Gupta, 63, and her daughter Reeva Gupta, 33, were aboard the small plane on Sunday when its pilot reported smoke in the cockpit before it crashed near Long Island homes.
The four-seat, single-engine Piper Cherokee plane that had also taken off from the Republic Airport on Long Island went down in flames, killing Roma.
The report says that her daughter Reeva and the 23-year-old pilot instructor have severe burns and are in the hospital.
According to the North Lindenhurst Fire Department, "The two patients were critically injured, severely burned, to my knowledge they were pulled from the plane by a civilian." Kenny Stallone, Chief, stated.
The crash caused Roma's death. Reeva, her daughter, has third-degree burns, and she is in critical condition at Stony Brook Hospital. According to her coworkers, Reeva, a physician's assistant in the Mount Sinai system, faces a lengthy and painful recovery.
The Danny Waizman Flight School, which owns the plane, said Monday that the flight instructor was also in critical condition.
The attorney for Danny Waizman Flight School, Oleh Dekaylo, stated that the pilot had all of his ratings and certifications, and that the plane that was involved in the accident had recently passed two rigorous inspections, the most recent of which occurred last week.
Dekajlo, Danny Waizman Flight School's lawyer, told the channel, "It was a demonstration flight, an introductory flight to see if people are interested" in flying lessons.
According to Suffolk County Police, the pilot was traveling with tourists. The plane flew over the beaches of the South Shore, as shown by the flight path. The pilot then radioed Republic Airport air traffic controllers about smoke in the cabin, according to the News12 New Jersey website.
The plane had undergone a number of inspections, including one just recently, according to the owner's attorney.
The National Transportation Safety Board will keep looking into the crash to find out what caused it. The crash is also under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration.
On Tuesday, federal investigators are anticipated to return to the crash site for the third time to remove the debris and conduct additional analysis.
In the meantime, the Gupta family's GoFundMe account has raised more than USD 60,000.
