Family of Six, Including Athlete and Doctors, Perishes in New York Plane Crash

A family of six lost their lives in a private plane crash in upstate New York. The aircraft went down in Copake, New York, on Saturday, April 13th, shortly after midday. The family was en route to the Catskills for a birthday celebration and the Passover holiday. The twin-engine Mitsubishi MU-2B aircraft crashed into a muddy field.

Before the crash, the pilot contacted air traffic control at Columbia County Airport, stating he had missed the initial approach and requested a new one. Controllers issued three low altitude warnings, but the pilot did not respond or issue a distress call. Investigators obtained footage from the final moments before the crash, which indicated the aircraft was intact and crashed at a high rate of descent.

The victims included Karenna Groff, a former MIT footballer and 2022 NCAA woman of the year; her father, Dr. Michael Groff, a neuroscientist; her mother, Dr. Joy Saini, a urogynecologist; her brother, Jared Groff, a 2022 Swarthmore College graduate and paralegal; Alexia Couyutas Duarte, Jared Groff's partner; and Karenna Groff's boyfriend, James Santoro, another recent MIT graduate. A family member expressed deep grief, stating the world lost many good people.

Karenna Groff, a biomedical engineering student, co-founded openPPE during the COVID-19 pandemic, contributing to a new mask design. She was honored with the NCAA woman of the year award in 2023. After graduating, Santoro and Groff moved to Manhattan, where Groff began medical studies, and Santoro worked as an investment associate. Saini, originally from India, was a renowned pelvic surgeon. Michael Groff was a neurosurgeon and an aviator.

The group departed from Westchester County Airport on Saturday morning. Their intended destination was Columbia County Airport, but they crashed approximately 10 miles south. The crash site was described as a field where the plane was "compressed, buckled and embedded in the terrain." The pilot was flying under instrument flight rules. The aircraft had been purchased a year prior and had a modernized cockpit. The NTSB expects to spend up to a week at the crash site, with a comprehensive accident report expected in 12 to 24 months.