A Vermont couple flying a small fixed-wing single-engine airplane crashed into a farmer's field in South Kortright on Thursday, April 2, and walked away from the wreck unscathed.
Julian Joffe, the pilot, and his wife, Kerry Joffe, were the two occupants of the airplane, according to Bob Cavanaugh, the chief financial officer of Pad Print Machinery of Vermont. Julian Joffe is the CEO of the company.
Left: A Beech A36 aircraft. Photo by Alan Radecki via Wikimedia Commons.
"They landed in a farmer's field," Cavanaugh said. "They skidded for about a quarter mile. The farmer has been in the process of helping them get out of the field and closer to town where they can work with the authorities and get holed up for the night."
Cavanaugh said that both Joffes were unharmed, and contacted him soon after the crash to say they were OK.
The cause of the crash was unclear, Cavanaugh said. But when the aircraft began to fail, Joffe knew what to do, he said.
"He's an excellent pilot," Cavanaugh said.
Joffe has a private pilot license, issued in 2007, that permits him to fly single engine airplanes and instrument aircraft.
The airplane, a Beech A36, is registered to a company owned by Joffe based in Manchester Center, Vermont, according to Federal Aviation Administration records. It was currently certified to fly.
Above: The airplane after the crash. Photo by pilot Julian Joffe.
The couple was on their way south to celebrate Easter, Cavanaugh said. They flew out of Rutland Southern Vermont Regional Airport this morning.
Delaware County Emergency Coordinator Steve Hood confirmed that the pilot of the airplane survived the crash unharmed, and landed it skillfully in a muddy field.
"He did a really good job of landing the plane," Hood said. "It doesn’t appear to be very highly damaged."
Wild goose chase
For hours, confusion reigned among first responders on the ground about the location of the crash.
This was because of faulty coordinates provided to first responders by air traffic controllers in New Hampshire, Hood said.
One set of coordinates led to a remote hollow, Turk Hollow Road, in the Greene County town of Halcott. A second set of coordinates led to a mountainside down the road, near Elk Creek Road. The closest populated center near both locations is the village of Fleischmanns, over the county line in Delaware County.
A large number of vehicles from the Arkville Fire Department, Fleischmanns Fire Department, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection and the New York State Police were seen heading up County Road 3 towards Turk Hollow Road. The Fleischmanns Fire Department blocked off access to Turk Hollow Road, preventing reporters from getting near the supposed crash site.
Above: A view of distant Turk Hollow in the Greene County town of Halcott, where first responders thought a small airplane crashed on Thursday, April 2. In fact, the plane crashed 25 miles away in South Kortright. Photos by Julia Reischel.
A helicopter hovered above County Road 3 in the Vly Creek Valley in Halcott early on Thursday afternoon. Several first responders said that they were involved in a search for the survivors of the crash.
But the crash actually happened 25 miles away in the Delaware County hamlet of South Kortright, in the town of Stamford, off County Road 18 behind the Hanselman Farm, Hood said.
The New York State Police were on the scene of the crash at 5:45 p.m. on Thursday afternoon, Hood said. It is unclear whether they'd actually made contact with the Joffes yet, he said.
Above: A roadblock set up at the entrance to Turk Hollow Road prevented the public from accessing the supposed crash site in Halcott.
This story has been updated as new information about the location of the crash has been released by the Delaware County Department of Emergency Services. - Ed.
