WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (1010 WINS) — Westchester County Executive George Latimer asked for prayers for Boruch Taub and Benjamin Chafetz, members of Cleveland's Orthodox Jewish community who died Thursday when their small plane crashed in the woods near the Westchester County airport.
Congressman Mike Lawler helped ascertain that Chafetz, 45, who owned a web development company, was able to make a last call to his wife.
"I don't think any of us want to contemplate what it would be like to know that your life is about to end and you were going to speak to the people you loved the most and try to say something to them to summarize the life that you've had together," Latimer said at a Friday news briefing. "That is what last night was about."
Their single-engine plane experienced a drop in oil pressure shortly after taking off from JFK Airport in Queens, headed for Cuyahoga County Airport in Richmond Heights, Ohio, but soon experienced engine trouble, officials said.
The plane began losing altitude, and the pilot, Taub, the 40-year-old owner of MasterWorks Automotive, "recognized that he had only a handful of minutes to try to bring the plane to a safe landing," said Latimer. "He was unable to do that."
The wreckage of the plane was found just before 11 p.m. in a heavily wooded area about 2 miles from the runway at Westchester County Airport, he said.
The county executive credited air traffic control for sticking with Taub, the FBI for using cellphone pings to locate the plane and the hundreds of first responders who searched the woods in a rainstorm to recover their bodies.
Special care was then taken to fly their remains home to Cleveland in time for burial before sundown Friday, in accordance with Jewish tradition, officials said.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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