No Distress Call From Plane That Crashed In Dutchess County

UNION VALE, NY — There was no distress call from the plane that crashed Saturday into a Union Vale home. There was no communication from the pilot to the traffic control because there is no tower at Sky Acres Airport in LaGrangeville.

National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Peter Knudson said the first responders didn't learn about the crash until neighbors called 911, according to the Poughkeepsie Journal.

The NTSB said it expects to have a preliminary report on the crash by the end of August.

The pilot of the Cessna 303 — Francisco Knipping-Diaz, 61, of Woodmere, Long Island — was killed in the crash.

His two passengers were identified as Eduardo Tio, 50, also of Woodmere, and Teoflio Antonio Diaz Pratt, 52, of the Dominican Republic, both of whom sustained non-life threatening injuries.

Three people were in the home at 235 South Smith Road at the time of the accident.

Gerard Bocker, 61, was killed. Hannah Bocker, 21, was critically injured, and Sarah Bocker, 30, received non-life-threatening injuries.

Knipping-Diaz had departed Orange County Airport and refueled at Sky Acres. He was heading for Republic Airport in Farmingdale on Long Island when the plane crashed about a mile from the runway after taking off from Sky Acres.

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