A small plane crashed near New York’s Westchester County Airport on Thursday, killing the pilot and two passengers aboard. Authorities have since identified the victims, including Karenna Groff, a 24-year-old biomedical engineering graduate, as tributes pour in from those who knew them.
Who was Karenna Groff?
Karenna Groff, 24, was an exceptional student-athlete who was widely admired on and off the field. A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), she earned the NCAA Woman of the Year award in 2022, one of the highest honors in collegiate athletics.
Groff played five seasons at MIT and appeared in 94 games for the Engineers soccer team. She tallied 50 goals and 28 assists, and she was a first-team honoree in the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference on three occasions.
Groff was not only a star striker on MIT’s soccer team but also a standout student pursuing a degree in biological engineering.
Friends, professors, and teammates remembered Karenna as driven, compassionate and humble—a rare combination of talent and character. She was passionate about using her academic background to help others and aspired to a career that blended medical research with real-world impact.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, she co-founded OpenPPE, an initiative aimed at developing improved mask designs for essential workers. After graduating from MIT, she enrolled in medical school at New York University, continuing her commitment to making a difference in the medical field.
Who were the other plane crash victims?
The crash claimed the lives of five other people: Groff’s father, Dr. Michael Groff, a Harvard Medical School professor and experienced pilot; her mother, Dr. Joy Saini, a practicing urogynecologist; her brother, Jared Groff; his partner, Alexia Couyutas Duarte; and Karenna’s boyfriend, James Santoro, also an MIT graduate.
What do we know about the plane crash?
A twin-engine Mitsubishi MU-2B aircraft went down in a wooded area near the town of Copake in Columbia County, New York. The plane was en route from Westchester County Airport in White Plains to a family gathering in nearby Hudson, about 10 miles from the crash site. All six people on board were killed.
Dr. Michael Groff, a licensed pilot with significant experience, was at the controls of the aircraft. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, he aborted a landing at Columbia County Airport and was attempting to circle around for another approach when the plane dropped off radar. No distress call was made, but air traffic controllers issued low-altitude alerts shortly before the crash.