Indian doctor couples and their teen daughter were killed when their small plane sliced through backyards in a Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, shortly after takeoff Thursday morning.
Dr. Jasvir "Jesse" Khurana, 60, his wife, Dr.
Divya Khurana, 54, and their daughter, Kiran Khurana, 19, of
NBC10 obtained audio of Dr. Jasvir Khurana, who was the pilot of the aircraft, speaking to air traffic control moments before the flight took off. In the audio, Dr. Khurana incorrectly repeats back parts of the route that were dictated to him by the tower controller. A frequency mix up is then heard.
The plane was headed to
About three minutes later, the flight crashed behind homes
along
The aircraft came to rest in a wooded area after striking the ground, a gazebo, backyard shed, fence and several trees.
No one on the ground was hurt and the plane didn't hit any homes, only the shed, according to investigators.
The county coroner arrived on the scene later Thursday morning and recovered the bodies.
Investigators with the Federal Aviation Administration said there were no indications that Dr. Khurana made any sort of distress call, according to police.
Officials have not yet determined the cause of the crash. The National Weather Service reported conditions were overcast and hazy and appeared to be under instrument flight rules (IFR). IFR means the pilot would need to follow rules for flying in clouds.
The plane reached an estimated altitude of about
Dr. Jasvir Khurana was a professor of pathology and
laboratory medicine at
‘Dr. Khurana has been a valued faculty member in the
Department of Pathology at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at
Dr. Divya Khurana, was a professor of pediatrics and neurology at the Drexel University College of Medicine, specializing in pediatrics, sleep medicine and pediatric neurology. She was also a nationally recognized leader in epilepsy and mitochondrial disorders, according to St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, where she had worked for more than two decades.
‘She was loved by her patients and students alike,’ a spokesperson for St. Christopher's wrote. ‘Her sudden passing has left a void in the hearts of all who knew and loved her.’
The couple's daughter, Kiran, graduated from
‘One of our kindest students,’
The couple is survived by their oldest daughter who was not on the plane at the time of the crash.