The New York Post has reported that an Irish man, Cyril McLavin (51), originally from Dysart, Co Westmeath, was killed in an air crash in his private plane at the weekend.
According to the report McLavin had just taken off from Spadaro airport on Long Island in the company of his flying companion Dr Andrew Messana (72), when the 1946 Globe GC-1A plunged into Moriches Inlet.
The men had been helping at a charity event in which they had given children plane rides from Brookhaven Airport in an event sponsored by an aviation group. The crash is reported to have happened about 3pm local time on Saturday. The cause of the crash is not yet known.
“The only reason they took the plane out was to help at the event,” Susan Spadaro, owner of the airport, said. “We had heroes for lunch, and then they took off. A few minutes later, they were gone.”