3 family members killed in Upper Moreland Township plane crash
UPPER MORELAND TOWNSHIP, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- A couple, who worked as physicians at Temple and Drexel universities, and their teenage daughter were killed in a plane crash in Montgomery County, authorities confirm.
Police said a call to 911 was made from a resident on Minnie Lane in Upper Moreland Township around 6:20 a.m.
A single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza propeller plane with the tail number N4082S had crashed in the rear of the property, police said.
Dr. Jasvir "Jesse" Khurana, 60, was piloting the plane. His wife Dr. Divya Khurana, 54, and their daughter, Kiran Khurana, 19 were also on board.
All three were killed in the plane crash. No one on the ground was injured.
The family leaves behind one daughter.
Jasvir was a pathologist at Temple University.
"Dr. Khurana has been a valued faculty member in the Department of Pathology at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University since 2002. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones," said a Temple spokesperson.
Drexel University confirmed that Divya was a professor of pediatrics in the Drexel College of Medicine where she specialized in pediatrics, sleep medicine and pediatric neurology.
The Khurana's plane took off from Northeast Philadelphia Airport. Based on the flight plan, investigators believe the plane was headed for Ohio State University.
There has been no word on a possible cause of the crash. Investigators from the NTSB arrived on the scene Thursday afternoon.
"We're looking at the big items: so what we like to say is, the airplane, the pilot, and also the environmental conditions," said NTSB Investigator Adam Gerhardt.
According to Gerhardt, the flight lasted three minutes leading up to the crash.
Gerhardt said there was no distress call and the plane was not equipped with a black box.
"We don't have any reports right now that there was any radio call from the air," said Gerhardt.
While investigators have yet to determine the quality and the quantity of fuel that was in the plane, they said there was nothing to suggest there had been an explosion or fire either in the air or at the crash scene.
"This is a very small debris path," said Gerhardt.
There was no damage to any nearby homes, police said, though an outbuilding to the rear of a Minnie Lane property was damaged.
A steady flow of mourners arrived at the family home hugging each other, devastated by the loss of their friends.
"I'm really speechless, I mean it's really just a terrible tragedy, terrible," said neighbor Roy Stander.
Friends said one of Jasvir's greatest accomplishments was climbing Mount Everest as part of a scientific project.
"They're very neighborly, and it's tragic," added Stander.
"He was very kind, he seemed like a very gentle kind man and his father is a sweetheart, the whole neighborhood knows him," said neighbor Teresa Milestone.
A preliminary NTSB report will be released between 10 to 15 days.
