Off The Record
Top Doctors And MIT Students Among Victims In Devastating Family Plane Crash
A successful family of academics and doctors was destroyed in a plane disaster while traveling to the Catskills in Upstate New York to celebrate Passover and a birthday.
All six occupants of the Mitsubishi MU2B aircraft perished when it crashed in a Copake field shortly after noon on Saturday.
Karenna Groff, a former MIT soccer player and the 2022 NCAA woman of the year, her boyfriend James Santoro, an MIT graduate, Karenna’s father, neuroscientist Dr. Michael Groff, and her mother, urogynecologist Dr. Joy Saini, were named as the victims on Sunday.
“They were a wonderful family,” John Santoro, James’s father, told the Associated Press.
“The world lost a lot of very good people who were going to do a lot of good for the world if they had the opportunity. We’re all personally devastated.”
The family boarded Michael Groff’s private plane on Saturday morning after traveling to an airfield in White Plains, New York City, according to Santoro.
During a press conference on Sunday, Todd Inman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, stated that their plane crashed approximately 10 miles from Columbia County Airport at 12:06 p.m.
“[The family] were coming in for a holiday celebration with family,” Inman said. The New York Post reported they had been flying out to the Catskills for a birthday celebration and the Passover holiday.
At a press conference on Saturday, Columbia County Undersheriff Jacqueline Salvatore stated that “accessibility is difficult” because of the swampy ground where they landed.
“The 25 years we had with James were the best years of our lives,” Santoro said, as funeral arrangements are being made. “And the joy and love he brought us will be enough to last a lifetime.”
Karenna co-founded openPPE during the COVID-19 pandemic, which contributed to the development of a novel mask design for critical workers.
She was then honored for her achievements in 2023 with the NCAA women of the year award for 2022.
In an interview at the time, she said, “Really, this recognition is a testament to my MIT women’s soccer family and all of the guidance, support and friendship they have provided for me over the years.”
James and Karenna had met at MIT, where they were both students. She studied biomedical engineering and was an All-American soccer player who grew up in Massachusetts.
James was a New Jersey math major who participated in the school’s lacrosse team.
Following graduation, the couple relocated to Manhattan, where James worked as an investment associate for Silver Point and Karenna enrolled in the medical program at New York University.
As the plane started to plummet from the sky and plummeted at a ‘high-rate descent’ into the earth, Inman said, a video that the board had gotten demonstrated that the aircraft was indeed intact.
As they flew into the airport, the pilot reported a missed approach and asked for a different one.
But on the second try, NTSB member Albert Nixon said a low-altitude signal went through.
Nixon said that three attempts by a responding air traffic controller to notify the pilot about the plane’s low altitude were unsuccessful.
“No distress call was made from onboard,” he continued.
According to Inman, the board’s team will need a week to complete the inquiry.
“I know that [the plane] was certified under FAA standards… we have no reason to believe it was not legally safe to fly,” Inman said.
According to Inman, the pilot has been flying for “a number of years” and “from a very young age,” and he holds a certification.
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