PURCHASE, N.Y. (AP) _ Authorities say the pilot of a small plane has died after crashing near the Westchester County Airport.
Airport operations manager John Starace says the aircraft took off at 8:08 a.m. Friday and went down after hitting some trees west of the airfield.
The male pilot was the only person on board the Portland, Maine-registered aircraft.
Starace says the plane came down on Cottage Road in Purchase, a hamlet in the Town of Harrison.
He described it as a high performance single engine Piper Meridian.
It wasn't immediately known where the plane was headed or whether the pilot reported any problems before going down.
Father Christopher Monturo, a Harrison police department chaplain, says he came to the vicinity of the scene because ``I just thought I should be here.''