THREE DEAD AFTER PLANE BOUND FOR P.E.I. CRASHES.

Private aircraft left Ontario for Prince Edward Island on Monday but crashed in Maine

U.S. officials are investigating a plane crash that killed three people who were travelling to P.E.I. on Monday. The crash occurred just outside Greenville Municipal Airport in Maine at about 10:55 a.m. Eastern, said an official with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The identities of the three victims, as well as where they’re originally from and why they were travelling to P.E.I., have not yet been released by officials. The private aircraft, an Aerostar AEST, had departed Pembroke Airport in Ontario with three passengers Monday morning. Airport spokesperson Jennifer Layman said there were few details known about the crash or travellers. She said a flight plan submitted to the airport had P.E.I. as the plane’s destination. “We don’t know very much at this point, we know an aircraft left Pembroke around 9 a.m. this morning and at 11:30 we got a call (informing us of the crash),” Layman said Monday afternoon. “We’ve not heard anything since.” The Boston Globe is reporting the private plane crashed near Greenville airport, which is operated by the municipality, shortly after declaring an emergency due to engine problems. Greenville town manager Jesse Crandall confirmed the plane was not scheduled to land at the airport. Crandall, who was not at the airport during the crash, said the plane missed the airport runway and landed in a nearby field. “They may have been on an emergency flight when they came in,” said Crandall, who got a call from the FAA’s Boston office asking him to try and make contact with the plane, which had reported it was experiencing an emergency situation, while he was on his way to the crash scene. “It is very sad. They landed just outside the runway.” By the time Crandall arrived at the scene, Greenville police and firefighters had cordoned off the area and reported no survivors, he said. A spokesperson with the Piscataquis County Sheriff referred all questions to the FAA, which is now conducting an investigation. Because it occurred in the U.S., the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will ultimately determine the cause of the crash. An official with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said that if they are requested, they would assist the NTSB. The Guardian was unsuccessful in reaching Charlottetown Airport Authority CEO Doug Newson to confirm that was the plane’s destination. The Greenville Municipal Airport, located in the mountains near Moosehead Lake in Maine, has two runways, and mostly serves recreational planes stopped in the area to access the area’s camps, lakes and outdoors, said Crandall. It does not serve commercial flights. In 2011, a Massachusetts man died when a plane he was flying crashed near the airport. Crandall said that to his knowledge, the airport had never had an incident like Monday. “To have three people die. We’ve had crashes where we lost one or two… but nothing like that,” he said.