Aircraft type in deadly NY crash that killed Mass. family has history of fatal incidents

NORWOOD, Mass. — You won’t find any Mitsubishi Mu-2s at Norwood Airport. It’s a relatively rare bird, with production ending almost forty years ago.

First introduced in 1963, the twin turboprop was aimed at customers who wanted jet-like performance at lower cost. Its relatively short take-off and landing performance meant the plane could also access smaller fields — even while carrying up to a dozen passengers.

But the aircraft racked up a number of incidents over the years. According to the Bureau of Aircraft Accident Archives (BAAA) the MU-2 was involved in 37 fatal accidents worldwide in just the last 25 years — with 72 killed.

“The control surfaces on the Mitsubishi MU-2 are slightly different than on your typical general aviation aircraft,” said Anthony Brickhouse, an Associate Professor of Aerospace Safety at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. “I’m not saying in any way they are unsafe. They are just different and it requires some special training to understand those dynamics.”

In fact, proper training appears to have been key in reviving the reputation of the MU-2. In 2008, the FAA enacted SFAR (Special Federal Aviation Regulation) 108 — which mandated additional training for MU-2 pilots. Since then, the BAAA lists just 12 accidents worldwide involving the type — 8 in the United States.

And Brickhouse said Mitsubishi continues to push the safety issue with MU-2 operators.

“A few summers ago, I remember actually going to a conference literally just for MU-2 owners and operators,” he said. “And that entire conference was focused on safety.”

Brickhouse said the focus of NTSB investigators will cover people, environment and mechanicals — that is pilot training, pilot response, weather and the plane itself. He said even small clues can offer major evidence.

“How metal breaks, how metal bends can speak to whether something was overloaded or whether it failed from fatigue or something like that,” Brickhouse said.

On Sunday, a twin-engine Mitsubishi MU-2B private plane was on its way to the Catskills for a birthday celebration and the Passover holiday when it went down into a muddy field in Copake near the Massachusetts border, killing everyone on board.

Among the victims were Karenna Groff, a former MIT soccer player named the 2022 NCAA woman of the year; her father, a neuroscientist, Dr. Michael Groff; her mother, Dr. Joy Saini, a urogynecologist; her brother, Jared Groff, a 2022 graduate of Swarthmore College who worked as a paralegal; James Santoro, Karennas boyfriend and another recent MIT graduate and Alexia Couyutas Duarte, Jared Groff’s partner.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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