A private plane crashed in upstate New York over the weekend carried six members of close physicians and well-known student-athletes on their trip to the Catskills for birthday celebrations and Passover holidays.
The twin engine Mitsubishi MU-2B fell in muddy fields in New York’s Copeki on Saturday afternoon, according to a family who spoke with the Associated Press.
Shortly before the crash, the pilot radioed air traffic control at Columbia County airport and called for a new approach plan, saying he missed the first approach, National Traffic Safety Commission officials said at a briefing on Sunday. While preparing the new coordinates, the air traffic controller tried to relay three low-altitude alerts without a response from the pilot and without a call of distress, officials said.
Investigators obtained a video of the last seconds of the flight. This “seems to indicate that the aircraft is unharmed and descending to the ground,” NTSB civil servant Todd Inman told reporters.
Among the victims was Karenna Groff, a former MIT soccer player named 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year. her father, neuroscientist Dr. Michael Groff; her mother, Dr. Joy Saini, a urologist. Her brother, Jared Groff, a 2022 graduate of Swarthmore University, where she worked as a paralegal. He graduated from Swarthmore, a partner of Alexia Kuyutas Duarte and Jared Groff, and is planning to attend Harvard Law School this fall. According to a family statement on Sunday, Karenna Groff’s boyfriend James Santoro is another recent MIT alumnus.
“They were a great family,” James’ father, John Santoro, told the Associated Press. “The world has lost many very good people who were going to do a lot of good things for the world if they had the opportunity. We are all personally devastated.”
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Santoro said his son first met Karenna Groef as a freshman studying at the mitt. Groff, who grew up in Weston, Massachusetts, was a national soccer player studying biomedical engineering. Santoro, a mathematics major in New Jersey, played lacrosse at school.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Karenna Groff co-founded Openppe to help create new designs of masks for essential workers. In 2023, she received the prestigious NCAA Woman of the Year Award for her achievements last year and off-field.
“Really, this perception is a testament to my MIT women’s soccer family and all the guidance, support and friendship they have provided me over the years,” she said in an interview at the time.
After graduation, Santoro and Groff moved to Manhattan, where they enrolled in New York University’s medical school as investment associates for Silver Point, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based hedge fund.
James Santoro (L) and Karenna Groef in 2023. Provided by John Santoro via the AP
According to a family statement, Indian-born Saini was a skilled pelvic physician and founder of pelvic health and wellness in Boston. She trained in medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, where she met Michael Groff. He has become a well-known neurosurgeon and an experienced pilot, the statement said.
According to John Santoro, they all headed to Westchester County Airport in White Plains, a suburb of New York City.
They were set to land at Columbia County Airport, but crashed about 10 miles south. The planes are “compressed, buckled and embedded in the terrain” of the muddy agriculture sector, Inman said.
The pilots flew under instrument flight rules rather than visual flight rules, but it was premature to determine whether a drop in visibility from weather conditions was a factor, he said.
According to the NTSB, the plane was sold a year ago and had an upgraded cockpit with new technology certified to Federal Aviation Administration standards.
Investigators expect to be at the crash site about a week, and it could take 12 to 24 months for the full accident report to be completed, Inman said.
Funeral arrangements were underway, Santoro said.
“The 25 years we were with James was the best year of our lives,” he added.
Jake Oppenharts
