Two men died Thursday when their single-engine plane crashed while returning to Ohio after attending a funeral in New York.
Their Beechcraft A36 departed NYC’s John Fitzgerald Kennedy airport around 5 p.m. Thursday for Cleveland, according to a Jewish Chronicle report.
Boruch Taub and Binyamin Chafetz, were prominent members of Cleveland’s Jewish community, the report noted. Both men were reportedly experienced pilots.
One of the men radioed Westchester County airport around 5:25 p.m. to report low pressure, according to the report. The airport lost contact with the plane about five minutes later, which is when investigators believe the Beechcraft crashed.
The plane swerved north before dropping off the radar of nearby Westchester County Airport, according to a flight tracker.
Air traffic controllers reportedly heard a “mayday” call minutes later.
Chafetz sent a text to a friends’ WhatsApp group moments before crashing, declaring their plane “lost engines” and asked the community to pray for him.
“I love you and the kids,” Chafetz texted, according to the report. “I am sorry for everything I have done. We lost engines. Call and have community say Tehillim.”
Tehillim is a Hebrew term for the Book of Psalms in the Tanakh (the Jewish Bible).
Officials said the downed plane was located around 11 p.m. in a heavily wooded area. Both passengers were reported dead by authorities, according to the report. Flight conditions were reportedly poor, with heavy rain and thunderstorms in the area where the plane went down.
Jewish volunteers helped locate and retrieve the bodies to ensure they were treated in accordance with Jewish burial practices, according to a report from The Yeshiva World. Westchester County officials worked with crash sight investigators to ensure the bodies were released quickly to conform to customs and traditions of their Orthodox faith, the report noted.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are reportedly investigating the crash.
Chafetz is survived by his wife and seven children, according to the Jewish Chronicle report.
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