A passenger was killed and two others hospitalized with significant injuries in crash of a sightseeing plane in Long Island, New York, on Sunday afternoon, authorities said.
The crash, about 25 miles east of John F. Kennedy International Airport, was reported after 3 p.m. when air traffic controllers got the small plane's mayday report of smoke in the cockpit, Suffolk County Police Chief of Detectives John Rowan said at a news conference.
The person killed was a passenger while the pilot and other passenger "sustained critical injuries," according to an NTSB statement on Monday.
Their identifies had not been publicly disclosed by early Monday afternoon.
The wreckage was in brush and woods near Long Island Railroad tracks, Babylon Town Supervisor Rich Shaffer told NBC New York. The plane missed an adjacent neighborhood, he said.
The aircraft is a single-engine Piper PA 28, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. It was approaching Republic Airport in nearby Farmingdale when it went down, the agency said.
Rowan said the plane was being used for a sightseeing tour and was attempting its final approach for a landing when it crashed.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.
No injuries on the ground were reported.
