4 Killed in Plane Crash on Long Island, New York

LONG ISLAND, NY- Wshu.org reports that a plane crashed on Saturday off of Indian Wells Beach killing the four people on board. The search efforts were suspended on Sunday because of weather conditions.

Two of the victims’ bodies were foundon Saturday. Bernard and Bonnie Krupinski, who were owners of a restaurant and philanthropists. The couple’s grandson, William Maerov, 22, was also killed in the crash, as was Jon Dollard, the pilot.

The plane, a twin-engine Piper, is thought to have gone through a thunderstorm prior tocrashing approximately one and a half miles offshore.

The crash comes less than a week afterthe pilot of a vintage plane died when he crashed in Melville.

While commercial air travel is considered far safer than driving, private planes do not have the same safety record. By some estimates, they might be even more dangerous than cars. One way of looking at the data indicates that flying in a private plane puts a person at riskof dying that is 19 times higher than driving (which still is not as risky as a motorcycle).

When it comes to small aircraft, pilots have been taking the blame for most of the crashes. The training for the pilots is much less intensive than for commercial pilots. However, USA Today conducted a report in 2014 that indicated that many accidents that are caused by defective planes, and not pilot errors. The report indicates that manufacturers have covered up many of the defects leading to dangerous equipment being continuously usedfor decades. In many cases, it appears that pilot errors are a convenient scapegoatfor companies that aim to avoid liability.