Two people traveling to funeral die in Westchester County plane crash
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Two people on their way to a funeral in Cleveland were found dead overnight after their small plane crashed in Westchester County, authorities said Friday.
The single-engine Beechcraft A36 went down near Westchester County Airport in White Plains on Thursday around 5:30 p.m,, shortly after the pilot, 40-year-old Boruch Taub, reported that the aircraft was experiencing engine problems. It departed from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport less than an hour earlier, with a destination of Cuyahoga County Airport in Richmond Heights, Ohio.
When the plane suddenly began losing altitude, Taub “recognized that he had only a handful of minutes to try to bring the plane to a safe landing,” said Westchester County Executive George Latimer. “He was unable to do that.”
Authorities discovered the wreckage around 11 p.m. in a heavily wooded area in Armonk, a hamlet in the town of North Castle some 2 miles from the runway at Westchester County Airport, Latimer said. Taub, the owner of MasterWorks Automotive in Cleveland Heights, was found dead alongside the lone passenger aboard the plane, 45-year-old Benjamin Chafetz, who owned a web development company.
In the minutes before the crash, Chafetz was able to send a WhatsApp message to his wife, explaining the tragic situation.
“I love you and the kids. I am sorry for everything I have done. … We lost engines. Call and have community say Tehillim,” he wrote, per the Jewish Chronicle.
Latimer said both men belonged to the Orthodox Jewish community, and that there are “special religious traditions that have to be honored when dealing with fatalities.” WCBS reported. He added their bodies were transported back to Cleveland in time for burial before sundown Friday, in accordance with Jewish tradition.
“Mr. Taub and Mr. Chafetz are gone,” Latimer said.
“They leave a hole at the dinner table in their homes. They leave a hole in the life of their communities of faith. And in losing them, that is the overarching story of today.”
With News Wire Services
