Carbon Monoxide Overcomes 2 on Plane
ALTON, N.H. — A woman forced to take control of a small plane after her pilot son passed out from carbon monoxide apparently was also overcome as the plane passed over three states. The plane crashed and both died.
The two-hour drama began in Connecticut and continued in the skies over Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Air traffic controllers coached the increasingly groggy passenger, and a private pilot spotted the plane, established radio contract and tried to give her instructions.
“She talked to us quite a long time,†pilot Harold Hamre told the Concord Monitor. “It looked really good for a while and everybody felt good. Then she started complaining about being tired.â€
The passenger reported having some flight experience, said Hamre. State officials said Hamre followed the plane from Connecticut to New Hampshire.
“It’s kind of sad,†Hamre said. “We weren’t able to help her come down to a safe landing.â€
The blue and white plane, a single-engine Piper Cherokee flying from Farmingdale, N.Y., to Saranac Lake, N.Y., clipped the treetops and crashed near Lake Winnipesaukee in central New Hampshire. Rescuers searching through the dense woods found the seats and bodies thrown from the plane.
The first word of trouble came at 11:30 a.m. when Sikorsky Airport in Stratford, Conn., received an emergency radio call that the plane was about 10 miles from the field with an unconscious pilot and female passenger with no experience at the controls.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the plane was registered to David Riach of Babylon, N.Y., and an agency official said he was the pilot. The passenger was his mother, Dorothy Riach, 71, of Morristown, N.J., officials said.
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