A New Jersey woman has died and her daughter was seriously injured in a plane crash on Long Island over the weekend.
The women were passengers in a Piper PA 28 that crashed in Farmingdale, N.Y., “under unknown circumstances” on Sunday afternoon, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the plane’s pilot declared an emergency as he attempted to return to Republic Airport in Farmingdale, about 20 miles east of New York City, according to NBC affiliate WNBC.
Police said the pilot issued a “mayday” call shortly after the plane took off there around 2:15 p.m., citing smoke in the cockpit, per the outlet.
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The plane had turned around to attempt an emergency landing when it hit the ground near 5th Street and North Wellwood Avenue in Lindenhurst, according to WNBC and ABC affiliate WABC.
Roma Gupta, 63, of Whitehouse Station, N.J., was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, per WABC’s report.
Her 33-year-old daughter Reeva, who lives in Pennsylvania, and pilot Fayzul Chowdhury, 23, of the Bronx, were critically injured, according to News12.
The two survivors were transported via helicopter to Stony Brook University Medical Center, East Farmingdale Volunteer Fire Company Inc. said in a post on Facebook.
Reeva and Roma Gupta, Woman Killed, Daughter Critically Injured in Plane Crash After Booking Flight Lesson on Groupon for ‘Beautiful Day’ Together;
GoFundMe
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The plane involved in Sunday’s crash is owned by the Danny Waizman Flight School, according to WNBC.
Oleh Dekajlo, an attorney for the flight school, said Chowdhury was conducting “a demonstration flight” for the mother-daughter duo, per the report.
The two had found the flight school on Groupon, and “received a promotional coupon” for the flight from the site, Dekajlo added.
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Roma and Reeva “had a beautiful day planned together,” according to a GoFundMe campaign created by physician assistants from Mount Sinai West’s (MSW) neurosurgery department.
The pair were hoping to “fulfill a long-standing wish of theirs” with the flight, they added.
Reeva, who serves as a physician’s assistant within the Mount Sinai hospital system, is being treated for third-degree burns at Stony Brook Hospital, per WNBC.
“She faces a long, painful recovery, and her family, who needs to be at her bedside, lives far from eastern Long Island,” the MSW physician assistants said on GoFundMe.
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Chowdhury suffered burns to 75% of his body, according to WABC. The status of his recovery is unclear.
DeKajlo said Chowdhury is a certified pilot, and that the plane had recently passed two inspections, per the reports.
“There was a 100-hour inspection at the end of January and approximately a week ago there was a 50-hour inspection,” the attorney explained, according to News12.
An investigation into the crash is ongoing.
