Plainville crash victims identified as family from TN
By News Staff
Reporting by Melissa Randall
mrandall@abc6.com
A family from
The family was heading to
“We have no engines… we have no power. I need help,” a chilling recording of a conversation with the plane’s pilot, Dr. Joseph Kalister, and Air Traffic Control.
The engine failure happened thousands of feet up in the air but Kalister remained calm in the final moments before the plane crashed into the Bridle Path home, killing him, his wife Betty, and their teenage daughter.
Air Traffic Control was trying to get the distressed plane to land safely on the highway, “Alright 26 Delta, if you turn to the north, the interstate will be about two miles north there. 495. Are you familiar with the area?” “We are not…”
A few moments later, there was silence as the plane crashed into the house. Inside, the Rice family was able to escape unharmed.
Neighbor Mary O’Rourke was outside on the deck and watched the tragedy unfold, “It was like flying sideways like that… but it was turning. I think it was trying to turn but it went right into it.”
The 16-year-old captured a photo of the fire that erupted moments after impact.
“It felt like the ground was shaking. I was on my porch and the whole thing shook… and then all the sudden, I felt heat on the side of my face,” she continued.
On Monday, local, state, and federal officials, including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), returned to the site of the deadly crash looking for clues as to what went wrong.
“Our purpose is to ultimately determine a probable cause and prevent similar accidents from occurring in the future,” said Doug Brazy of the NTSB.
The plane departed from Pennsylvania and was bound for Norwood Memorial Airport in Massachusetts. The NTSB expect to be at the crash site for another two or three days.
A preliminary report could be ready in about two weeks, however, the final report of what caused the deadly crash could take up to a year.
A GoFundMe page has been set up for the Rice family who’s home was destroyed: www.godundme.com/y4gnmk
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