New Delhi: An Indian-origin woman was killed and her daughter was severely injured in a ‘demonstration flight’ Sunday in the New York area when their four-seater single-engine Piper Cherokee plane went down in flames.
Roma Gupta, 63, died on the spot while daughter Reeva, 33, and the 23-year-old flight instructor, were pulled out of the smouldering plane by a civilian.
Both suffered severe burn injuries, according to reports, and are being treated at the Stony Brook University Hospital. Reeva’s colleagues at Mount Sinai, where she is a physician’s assistant, said she was looking at a long and painful recovery ahead.
The flight was introduced to see if people were interested in flying lessons, and was run by the local Danny Waizman Flight School.
According to its flight path, the plane went over the South Shore beaches, and was returning to the Republic Airport on Long Island when the pilot reported smoke in the cabin. He radioed into Republic Airport air traffic controllers about it, a little before crashing near Long Island homes.
Oleh Dekaylo, the attorney for Danny Waizman Flight School, said the pilot had all his ratings and certifications, and the plane involved in the crash had passed two stringent inspections, the most recently last week.
Meanwhile, the National Transport Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the crash. They have taken removed the wreckage for further analysis, news agency PTI reported.
A GoFundMe account has also been created for the Gupta family, and has raised more than $60,000.
The post read that the mother-daughter duo had a beautiful day planned together to help fulfill “a long-standing wish of theirs” – a flight lesson.
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