Karenna Groff, a former footballer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year, was among six people killed on Saturday when a small aircraft crashed in rural upstate New York.
The twin-engine Mitsubishi MU-2B aircraft, piloted by Groff’s father, Dr Michael Groff, went down in a muddy agricultural field in Copake, approximately 30 miles from their intended destination at Columbia County Airport in Hudson.
Also on board were Groff’s mother, Dr Joy Saini; her brother, Jared Groff; Jared’s partner, Alexia Couyutas Duarte; and Groff’s boyfriend, James Santoro, a fellow MIT graduate. All were pronounced dead at the scene.
The group had departed from Westchester County Airport in White Plains, New York, and were travelling for a family gathering and birthday celebration.
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said that shortly before the crash, the pilot had radioed to report a missed approach and had been receiving new flight instructions. A low altitude alert was issued by air traffic control, but no further communication followed.
“The aircraft appeared intact prior to impact and crashed at a high rate of descent,” said NTSB investigator Todd Inman. “The wreckage was compressed, buckled, and embedded in the terrain.”
Investigators recovered video footage of the final seconds of the flight and confirmed that no distress signal was transmitted. The cause of the crash has not yet been determined. Weather conditions and mechanical failure have not been ruled out.
Karenna Groff, 25, was a native of Weston, Massachusetts, and graduated from Weston High School in 2018. She later earned a bachelor’s degree in biological engineering and a master’s in biomedical engineering from MIT.
At MIT, she was a standout student-athlete, serving as a two-time captain of the women’s football team and earning All-American honours. She led her team to multiple conference titles and national tournament appearances.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Groff co-founded the initiative openPPE, which developed protective masks for frontline workers and distributed them to hospitals and care centres across the United States.
In recognition of her academic, athletic and humanitarian contributions, Groff was named NCAA Woman of the Year in 2022. In interviews, she credited her MIT football teammates and mentors for shaping her journey.
At the time of her death, Groff was enrolled in an accelerated MD programme at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, where she hoped to pursue a career in neurosurgery.
James Santoro, Groff’s partner, was also a recent MIT graduate and a former lacrosse player. He had moved with Groff to New York City and was working as an investment associate.
“The 25 years we had with James were the best years of our lives,” said his father, John Santoro, speaking to the Associated Press. “The world lost a lot of very good people who were going to do a lot of good for the world if they had the opportunity.”
He described the victims as “a wonderful family” and said the loss was deeply personal for all who knew them.
The aircraft had recently undergone upgrades and met all current FAA safety standards, according to preliminary findings. It had been sold to its current owner last year.
The NTSB stated that investigators will remain at the crash site in Copake for approximately one week, collecting debris, flight data, and interviewing witnesses. A full accident report could take up to two years to complete.
The crash is one of the deadliest small aircraft incidents in the region in recent years, prompting renewed scrutiny of general aviation safety in rural flight corridors.
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