Accident Occurred Shortly After Takeoff From The Hamburg, NY Airport

Two airplanes collided in mid air Sunday morning shortly after takeoff from the Hamburg, NY airport (4G2), resulting in the fatal injury of the three people on board the two aircraft.

Television station WGRZ reports that, according to the NTSB, the two airplanes, a Cessna 120 and a Piper PA-28, were part of a group of six aircraft that all departed Hamburg at about the same time en route to St. Marys, PA. They went down in a rural area, with a debris field that stretched for nearly half a mile. The main wreckage of one of the aircraft landed near a barn, but there were no injuries or property damage on the ground.

A witness told the station that he had observed the airplanes flying close to one another, and one of the aircraft came over the top of the other. The lower aircraft then rose up and clipped the higher plane, "and then the wing came off and they came spiraling down," the witness said.

The names of those on board the aircraft have not been released.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov