Storms In Area At The Time

Three persons onboard a 1967 Piper PA-30 Twin Comanche were killed Wednesday morning, when their aircraft came down in a field on the eastern shore of Maryland.

Flight tracking data shows the aircraft departed Westchester Co. Airport in White Plains, NY just before 0800 local time, bound for Pinehurst, NC. Reported weather conditions at Cambridge-Dorchester Airport, approximately six miles south of the accident site, showed a thunderstorm in the vicinity at the time of the accident.

Air traffic controllers at Patuxent River Naval Air Station said they saw the aircraft descended rapidly on their screens at 0936, base spokesman John Romer told The Associated Press. Radio contact was also lost at that time.

The plane (type shown below) had been assigned a flight altitude of 6,000 feet, according to FlightAware.com, indicating the aircraft was on an IFR flight plan.

NTSB spokesman Paul Schlamm said the passenger's identitied were not immediately released. Debris from the impact was found scattered over a wide area, said authorities, and there was no sign of a post-impact fire.

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.ntsb.gov