etichy@post-journal.com
Two witnesses reported seeing a Cessna 177B banking left moments before the April 7 crash in Cattaraugus County that killed a passenger and seriously injured the pilot.
The National Transportation Safety Board on Monday released its preliminary report regarding the crash at Great Valley Airport, located north of Salamanca. A pilot based at the airport described the weather as “an absolute perfect day to fly.”
William H. Mandelare, 80, and Raymond E. Groetsch, 72, had flown into the airport from Brockport where the pair lived earlier in the day to have lunch with another pilot and were leaving when the crash occurred.
etichy@post-journal.com
Two witnesses reported seeing a Cessna 177B banking left moments before the April 7 crash in Cattaraugus County that killed a passenger and seriously injured the pilot.
The National Transportation Safety Board on Monday released its preliminary report regarding the crash at Great Valley Airport, located north of Salamanca. A pilot based at the airport described the weather as “an absolute perfect day to fly.”
William H. Mandelare, 80, and Raymond E. Groetsch, 72, had flown into the airport from Brockport where the pair lived earlier in the day to have lunch with another pilot and were leaving when the crash occurred.
Two witnesses reported seeing a Cessna 177B banking left moments before the April 7 crash in Cattaraugus County that killed a passenger and seriously injured th
editorial@post-journal.com
GREAT VALLEY An 80-year-old Brockport man has been identified as the passenger killed in a plane crash Wednesday afternoon in Cattaraugus County.
William H. Mandelare died as the result of the crash, which took place at the Great Valley Airport around 2 p.m.
According to the Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Office, a preliminary investigation found that the plane, a Cessna 177, appears to have experienced trouble during takeoff and crashed into a field just off the runway.
“He could see the plane in the air and the wings kind of tilt slightly,” Capt. Ronald Lott told the Times Herald of the witness. “He looked in the sky and did not see the plane actually in the air, and a few seconds later he saw black smoke.”
Officials ID man, 80, who died in western NY plane crash
April 9, 2021
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GREAT VALLEY, N.Y. (AP) Authorities have identified an 80-year-old man who died and another man who was seriously injured when a small plane crashed in western New York this week.
William H. Mandelare of Brockport died in the crash near Great Valley Airport, the Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post Thursday, as officials investigated what caused the accident.
Raymond E. Groetsch, 72, also of Brockport, survived the crash and is hospitalized in critical condition, the sheriff s office said.
Federal Aviation Administration records show pilots licenses for both men. The sheriff s office post Thursday didn t say which man was at the controls, though Sheriff’s Capt. Ronald Lott said Wednesday that the injured man told deputies he was the pilot.