Two men, woman killed in plane crash
Site was in wooded area of Greenfield
GREENFIELD — A small plane carrying three people spiraled out of the sky and crashed into a clearing on the side of a wooded mountain late Sunday morning, killing the two men and one woman who were onboard, officials said.
Authorities said the process of notifying next of kin was underway Sunday night and did not identify the victims, according to David Procopio, a Massachusetts State Police spokesperson. The bodies were taken from the crash scene Sunday night by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, and state troopers remained at the crash scene to provide security overnight, Procopio said.
Greenfield police Deputy Chief William Gordon said police received several 911 calls reporting a plane crash at 11:26 a.m. Police contacted WestfieldBarnes Regional Airport, which reported that it had received the signal from a plane’s emergency beacon.
Police officers and firefighters raced to the area and deployed a Greenfield Fire Department drone to locate the crash site in about four minutes, according to Gordon.
It took crews about 10 minutes riding two- and four-seater all-terrain vehicles to travel on narrow dirt roads and reach the plane, which was found intact and in an upright position, he said.
There were no survivors, Gordon said.
Authorities with the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board, Massachusetts State Police, Greenfield police, and the Northwestern District Attorney’s office are investigating the crash.
Gordon referred additional questions to the Northwestern district attorney, the FAA, and the National Safety Transportation Board.
Investigators with the FAA were on scene Sunday night and the NTSB was expected to arrive Monday.
Investigators released few details Sunday about the twin-engine Beechcraft BE 55 or its passengers Sunday night.
The National Transportation Safety
Board “does not determine or speculate about the cause of the accident” during the on-scene investigation, said Sarah Sulick, spokesperson for the agency.
A preliminary report will be released within 30 days, she said. Probable cause and contributing factors of the crash will not be released, however, until the final report is completed, which will take 12 to 24 months, Sulick said.
It was unclear if weather was a factor in crash. At the time of the crash, it was 36 degrees in Greenfield, with winds of about 4 m.p.h from the south-southwest and wind gusts of about 11 miles per hour, according to Bryce Williams, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Norton.
The crash occurred hours before snow squalls moved into the area, Williams said.
Terry Monahan, 55, who lives about a mile from the crash scene, said he heard a loud bang while he was inside his house Sunday. He learned about the crash from Facebook posts written by other residents, he said. “It’s terrible, especially in these conditions,” Monahan said.
The crash site is at the edge of a clearing in the woods and close to the town line with Leyden, according to Gordon. It was about a quarter mile from a staging area set up off of Oak Hill Road, and in the vicinity of Camp Lion Knoll and in the Leyden Wildlife Management Area.
Firefighters and police officers spent hours shuttling back and forth from a staging area to the scene on a narrow, uphill dirt road using ATVs.
Shortly before 5 p.m., firefighters loaded stretchers onto the backs of the ATVs and drove them to the scene.
About 15 minutes later, after extricating one of the victims from the wrecked plane, firefighters drove the body to the staging area and carefully loaded it into a van from the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Gordon said the victims were being removed from the plane Sunday and transported away by the chief medical examiner’s office. The wreckage was to remain in place overnight and kept secured by police, he said.
Crews faced cold and inclement weather at the crash site, according to Gordon.
Crisis intervention and stress management teams will be coming in over the next few days to speak to first responders who worked at the crash site, according to Gordon.
Witnesses and those with footage or other information about the crash are asked to contact the NTSB at witness@ntsb.gov.
John Hilliard can be reached at john.hilliard@globe.com.
Daniel Kool can be reached at daniel.kool@globe.com.