Five people died on Sunday in Upstate New York when the single-engine aircraft they were traveling in crashed in a rural area of Delaware County.
A family who were in New York from Georgia were flying a Piper PA-46 aircraft and were in the area for a baseball tournament in Cooperstown.
Around 2 p.m., the plane went down after fueling up and departing an airport in Oneonta, New York.
The plane was headed to West Virginia to refuel and was scheduled to land in Atlanta later Sunday.
The aircraft never made it.
According to The New York Times, several distress calls were quickly made just before the aircraft went down near the village of Sidney, about 40 miles from Binghamton.
Five members of the same family who had been traveling for a baseball tournament were killed when their small plane crashed in upstate New York on Sunday afternoon, the authorities said. https://t.co/GFsoEHGbBG
— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 1, 2024
On Sunday evening, the wreckage was discovered, and authorities said everyone on board the plane had died.
Emergency officials received multiple calls about a plane in distress.
State police said those killed were Roger Beggs, 76; Laura VanEpps, 43; Ryan VanEpps, 42; James R. VanEpps, 12; and Harrison VanEpps, 10.
According to Cody Alcorn with WXIA-TV in Atlanta, the dead were all members of the same family.
A metro Atlanta family was killed in plane crash while on their way home from a baseball tournament in New York.
The victims were identified as:
▪️Roger Beggs, 76
▪️Laura VanEpps, 43
▪️Ryan VanEpps, 42
▪️James VanEpps, 12
▪️Harrison VanEpps, 10https://t.co/sfKntxAMJv— Cody Alcorn (@CodyAlcorn) July 1, 2024
The Associated Press reported helicopters and drones were used to find the downed plane.
The Times reported that the NTSB was expected to hold a news conference about the tragedy on Monday evening.
No cause for the crash was immediately available.
According to the Times, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration will lead the investigation.
The New York State Police will assist.
According to the NTSB’s website, the agency has investigated numerous deadly incidents involving PA-46 aircraft.
In one 22-month period from May 31, 1989, to March 17, 1991, the planes were involved in seven deadly incidents in the U.S., Mexico and Japan.
The aircraft have been in service since they were introduced by Piper in 1979, and they began to take to the skies en masse in 1983.
