The plane did what a witness described as a « cartwheel » and « hit the ground on its side. »
The single-engine charter plane that crashed in a wooded area of Costa Rica Sunday, killing a Scarsdale family of five and seven others, turned sideways and seemed to « cartwheel » before it crashed about a minute after takeoff, a witness said.
« It was kind of low and I looked up to see it turn. I turned away and then heard the crash. It had only been in the air a minute or so, » Utah resident Matt Wolfe, 38, told the Daily News.
« My wife watched the whole thing. She thought the plane was doing some kind of barrel roll acrobatic maneuver. »
The plane did what he described as a « cartwheel » and « hit the ground on its side. »
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Wolfe and his family were eating lunch in a restaurant near Punta Islita Airport when the Cessna 208B Grand Caravan took off around noon carrying 10 Americans and two local pilots.
« Smoke started coming up from the crash site instantly. I heard lots of commotion. People with cars and motorcycles and four wheelers started driving in the direction of the crash, » he said.
Wolfe said he followed two locals up a hillside trail.
When he reached the charred wreckage, about 50 people were already there.
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« There was lots of black smoke. Several trees were on fire and just the tail section of the plane was visible. A few locals showed up with fire extinguishers and machetes but the fire kept popping mini explosions. Nobody could get close. It was clear no one had made it out of the airplane after the crash, » he said.
There were no survivors.
« I woke up to the worst anxiety about all of this, and all of the ‘What ifs?' » Wolfe told The News. « I keep replaying it in my head and feel so much grief for the people that lost their lives and love for my family. »
In an interview with ABC News, Dawn Wolfe said the plane was barely airborne when it crashed.
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« When I saw it sideways, I thought, ‘Oh, is this a plane doing a trick?' » she said. « And then I went, ‘Wait, that’s a big plane to do a trick.' »
The five members of the Scarsdale family were identified as Bruce Steinberg, 50, his 51-year-old wife, Irene, and their three sons Matthew, William and Zachary.
« We are in utter shock and disbelief right now, » Bruce Steinberg’s sister, Tamara Steinberg Jacobson, wrote on Facebook.
« They were wonderful people. We need a whole world of people like them, » Bruce’s mom Dianne Steinberg, 76, told The News before quickly hanging up Sunday.
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A family friend said Bruce graduated from Columbia Business School and worked for Bridgewater Securities.
Irene had a Master’s in social work from NYU, the friend said.
Also killed in the tragedy were Mitchell Weiss, 52, his wife, Leslie, 50, their 19-year-old daughter Hannah and their youngest Ari, according to Rabbi Jacob Luski of the Congregation B’Nai Israel in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Hannah was studying theology at List College in Manhattan. The parents, from Belleair, Fla., were both physicians.
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« It appears all four were on that plane yesterday. It’s a terrible loss for their family, for our congregation, for our synagogue family and for the Pinellas County family. They’ll be sorely missed. It’s a terrible tragedy, » Rabbi Luski told The News.
Enio Cubillo, director of Costa Rica Civil Aviation, said the Nature Air charter flight was on its way to the capital of San Jose.
He described pilot Juan Manuel Retana as very experienced and said the cause of the crash was under investigation.
Former Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla announced on Twitter that Retana was her cousin.
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Video posted by the Costa Rican Ministry of Public Security showed the Nature Air plane downed and engulfed in flames not far from Punta Islita in Guanacaste province.
The U. S. State Department confirmed the deaths in a statement to The News.
« We express our condolences to all those affected by this tragedy. We are in contact with Costa Rican aviation authorities and will continue to monitor the situation, » a spokesman said.
