There have been three crashes of small aircraft in the Adirondack region in the past week. WAMC's Pat Bradley has an update and looks at the challenges to flying in northern New York’s mountains.
Just before 8 a.m. last Thursday, a small plane was taxiing on the water and flipped upside down near Blair Bay in Lake George. Two people – a husband and wife – from Canaan, Conn., were on board and were not injured.
On Sunday evening, the pilot of a single engine plane died near the Piseco Airport in Hamilton County. The county sheriff’s office says the single engine Cessna 182 crashed shortly after 7 p.m., killing 74-year-old Kenneth Andreu from Valhalla in Westchester County. He was the only one aboard. The Hamilton County Sheriff’s office says Andreu was on his way to the Piseco Airport from the Poughkeepsie Airport and crashed as he was landing about 150 yards “off field” of the airport.
Then, three people died after a fiery crash near the Adirondack Regional Airport and Adirondack Rail Trail near Saranac Lake Monday night. The Piper Aerostar had three people aboard. New York State Police say the pilot was 70-year-old Gabriele P. Jasper of Toms River, New Jersey. The passengers were identified as 33-year-old Gabriella M. Hillgrube and 2-year-old Guiliana M. Hillgrube, both of Forked River, New Jersey. All died in the crash, which also closed a portion of the Adirondack Rail Trail. The NTSB is leading the investigation.
WAMC spoke with two flight instructors familiar with flying in the region. Leaf Air in Queensbury is owned by Jim Barrett. He has been flying and instructing pilots for about 50 years.
“I fly into Piseco quite often. As a matter of fact I was there about a week ago. And Saranac Lake I’ve flown into hundreds of times. Saranac Lake’s got a long runway. You can put a jet in there ... Everything’s good at Saranac Lake," Barrett said.
"You’re in a wide valley there with mountains surrounding you. But under good VFR conditions, visual flight rules, it’s not really a problem getting in and out of Saranac Lake. Piseco is a very small airport right next to a mountain. Piseco is tricky because there’s not a lot of room for error. Just entirely different type of airport.”
As for the Lake George incident, Barrett considers it an accident, not a crash.
“Lake George, this was a float plane. All the details aren’t in of course, but it seems like he was not even in the air," he said. "He was on the water attempting to make a taxi turn. This is from what I’ve been hearing. It wasn’t windy that day but somehow the plane flipped. It hadn’t even begun to take off. It was a Piper Cub which is light and it flipped and then of course sank. It was actually water taxiing on the lake.”
Brad Kiroy is a flight instructor in Plattsburgh. While the cause of the crashes are under investigation, he points out that there are several challenges flying in the mountains. He explains how the density of the air at higher altitudes can change.
“When we’re in the mountains when we’re dealing with warm temperatures as we’ve experienced these last couple of weeks these piston powered aircraft, general aviation aircraft, really don’t perform as well as the pilots are used to under normal circumstances," Kiroy said.
"Now in these cases they’re under investigation by the NTSB, by the FAA and in no way am I trying to comment on what actually took place. I’m sure that the FAA will come to some conclusion as to what caused these particular accidents. But density altitude does in fact create a challenge for pilots in the summertime particularly in the Adirondacks.”
Barrett also noted that the biggest challenge to flying in the Adirondacks is the weather, with the mountains able to produce their own weather.
