On Flight From Connecticut To Ticonderoga

Two people on a Capital Airlines PA-31 charter (file photo of type, right) were killed Saturday when their twin-engine aircraft crashed in New York's Essex County near Ticonderoga.

The victims were identified as 76-year-old pilot Milton Marshall of Oxford (CT) and 40-year-old Michael Keilty, of Sandy Hook (CT).

Fred Shaw was putting at the Ticonderoga Country Club when he looked up to see the Piper Navajo flying near the mountains of upstate New York.

"I said, 'Why is that plane not flying higher?'" he told the Albany Times-Union.

Minutes later, at around 0915, Shaw and his fellow golfers heard a tremendous explosion and saw a column of smoke rising from the nearby forest.

"It sounded like two claps of thunder," said golfer Peter Plass.

Local police asked country club cook Mark Wood to take them up in his aircraft to search for the crash site. At first, Wood told the Times-Union that the wreckage was hard to find. "There was nothing left," said Wood, who circled the area several times before seeing what remained of the plane on the forest floor, engulfed in flames. "The plane was demolished. You'd almost have no idea it was a plane."

Wood reportedly took a GPS fix and relayed it to the New York State Police. A state police helicopter then led recovery teams on ATVs to the crash site.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov