No mechanical error in Glenville plane crash
GLENVILLE, N.Y. (AP) -- Investigators say there was no mechanical failure or malfunction in a small plane that crashed in an upstate New York river, killing two men and a boy.
Witnesses told the National Transportation Security Board that the pilot barely got off the ground before stalling and falling tail-down in the Mohawk River near the Schenectady County Airport on June 14.
The NTSB found the Piper Cherokee Arrow's flaps were retracted rather than partially extended for a short-field takeoff and the landing gear was extended.
Krishnan Raghavan, Mathai Kolath George and George's 11-year-old son, George Kolath, all drowned. The NTSB's preliminary report says Raghavan was a certified flight instructor and George was his first student. It's still not known who was at the controls.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
