Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) has sent a letter to NTSB chairman Christopher Hart in response to what the senator referred to as “spate of small plane crashes continuing in New York.” He cited the recent crash of a vintage Navion piston single in Southampton that killed a flight instructor and a passenger and injured the pilot-owner who was performing touch-and-goes.

In a press release, Schumer cited “at least 18 airplane crashes” that occurred in New York during 2016. It was a bad year for the state. Six of those accidents were fatal, involving 13 deaths. Nine involved no injuries, and four involved off-airport damage. There were no injuries to anyone on the ground.

The senator wrote to Hart, “Thus far, horrible collateral damage has been avoided, but the potential for this kind of devastating harm remains all-too-possible,” and he urged the chairman to act to reduce the risk by “broadening the scope” of the NTSB investigation of the Long Island Navion crash and to “take a thorough examination of all related safety issues both in New York and across the country.” Senator Schumer concluded, “I believe strongly the time has come for the NTSB to conduct a top-to-bottom review of this issue.”