A practice flight ended in tragedy for two people aboard a propeller plane yesterday when the craft slammed into a forest and burst into flames – killing both – just outside Westchester County Airport.
The control tower lost communication with the Cessna 172 at about 3:19 p.m., as the four-seater was approaching the airport, officials said.
The Cessna popped up on radar one more time – at about 3:40 p.m., about a quarter-mile from the White Plains airport – before all contact was lost.
The two occupants, neither immediately identified, had taken off from Westchester, flown to Albany and returned. They were taking advantage of the cloudy weather to practice an instrument-guided landing, the FAA said.
Rescue workers found the wreckage about 1½ to two miles off Route 120.
“The plane was broken in half, it appeared to me, and there was fire,” New Castle Police Chief Robert D’Angelo said.