5 Family Members Are Killed in Small Plane Crash in Rural Upstate New York

The passengers, including a 10-year-old and a 12-year-old, had traveled to Cooperstown for a baseball tournament, the authorities said.

Five members of the same family who had been traveling for a baseball tournament were killed when their small plane crashed in upstate New York on Sunday afternoon, the authorities said.

The plane, a single-engine Piper PA-46, crashed around 2 p.m. in a rural area in Delaware County, near Sidney, about 40 miles northeast of Binghamton, the Federal Aviation Administration said, killing all onboard. The plane wreckage was discovered Sunday night, the F.A.A. reported.

There were five people on the plane, state police said: Roger Beggs, 76; Laura VanEpps, 43; Ryan VanEpps, 42; James R. VanEpps, 12; and Harrison VanEpps, 10.

The passengers were from Georgia and were in Cooperstown, N.Y., for a baseball tournament, state police said.

The plane departed from Alfred S. Nader Regional Airport in Oneonta, N.Y., and was bound ultimately for Atlanta, with plans to stop and refuel in West Virginia.

It was not immediately clear what caused the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board is leading an investigation, along with the Federal Aviation Administration and the New York State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Collision Reconstruction Unit, and Forensic Identification Unit.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/30/nyregion/plane-crash-delaware-county-catskills.html