BETHLEHEM, N.Y. (AP) — Authorities have released the names of two people who were killed when their single-engine plane crashed into a freight train at an Albany-area rail yard earlier this week.
Police in the town of Bethlehem say 48-year-old flight instructor Allan Richter of Delmar and 61-year-old Nancy Gertzberg of Petersburg were on board the Cessna 172 Skyhawk when it crashed into the side of a rail car soon after taking off from a nearby private airport late Monday afternoon.
Officials say Gertzberg was piloting the plane when it slammed into an enclosed auto carrier standing on the tracks at the CSX rail yard in Selkirk.
Richter was pronounced dead at the scene. Gertzberg died while being taken to a hospital.
The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the cause of the crash.
