2 killed when small airplane crashes near Townline Road in Carlton/Yates

CARLTON/YATES – The pilot and a passenger in a small home-made airplane were killed this afternoon when the plane had a mechanical failure and crashed into a cow pasture off Townline Road in Yates.

The names of the deceased aren’t being released right now pending notifications of their family.

The 911 dispatch center was called at 5:42 p.m. with reports of the crash. The two wings came off the plane and landed in an orchard on the eastside of Townline Road in Carlton.

The fuselage, the main body of the plane, landed in a cow pasture, missing a home with 11 children by a few hundred feet. The fuselage traveled about another 1,500 yards from the wings.

Orleans County Sheriff Chris Bourke said the plane left from the Gaines Valley Aviation airport on Route 279. The pilot was offering rides in the plane earlier in the day, Bourke said.

An investigator from the Federal Aviation Administration is on site as of 9 p.m. and another investigator is expected on Monday from the National Transportation Safety Board.

A spill team from the state Department of Environmental Conservation also is responding because of a fuel spill from the plane at the crash site.

The scene is being secured by deputies from the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office. State Police, the Lyndonville Fire Department and Orleans County Emergency Management Office also have assisted at the scene.