Former MIT and Weston (Mass.) High School soccer star Karenna Groff was one of six people killed in a private plane crash, traveling to upstate New York on Saturday for a family gathering.
The victims included Groff, her father, a neuroscientist, Dr. Michael Groff; her mother, Dr. Joy Saini, a urogynecologist and Karenna Groff's boyfriend, James Santoro, another recent MIT graduate. Karenna Groff’s brother, Jared, and his partner, Alexia Couyutas Duarte, were also aboard.
According to reports and authorities, the twin-engine aircraft, a Mitsubishi MU-2B, went down shortly after noon Saturday in a muddy field in Copake, N.Y., near the Massachusetts line, killing all six people aboard. It was Michael Groff’s private plane, according to reports. Shortly before the crash, the pilot had radioed air traffic control at Columbia County Airport to say he had missed the initial approach and requested a new approach plan, officials with the National Transportation Safety Board said at a Sunday briefing. While preparing the new coordinates, air traffic controllers attempted to relay a low altitude alert three times with no response from the pilot and no distress call.
