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Air National Guard surgeon, wife killed in plane crash in Concord


By GREG SUKIENNIK
Associated Press Writer

September 27, 2003, 9:50 PM EDT

CONCORD, Mass. -- A former surgeon for the New York Air National Guard died
with his wife on Saturday when their plane crashed in a densely wooded area of
Concord.
A female jogger came across the scattered debris where Dr. Ravindra F. Shah,
64, and Manjula Shah, 65, of Oswego, N.Y., crashed their plane Saturday
morning in the Punkataset Conservation area, officials said.
"It's a terrible loss for New York's military community," said Scott Sandman,
a spokesman for the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs.
Ravindra Shah, who was responsible for medical recruiting and promoting
flying safety with the New York Air National Guard, provided medical advice and
support to the emergency responders on duty at ground zero after the Sept. 11,
2001 attacks, Sandman said.
The Shahs, who had taken off from Oswego County Airport in Fulton, N.Y., were
the only people aboard the plane when it crashed at about 11:04 a.m. about
two miles from the nearest road, said FAA spokesman Jim Peters. It was not immediately clear who was piloting the plane.
The pilot did not indicate any problems when speaking to flight controllers
just prior to making an instrument-guided approach to Hanscom Field in Bedford,
Peters said.
Peters said the plane turned northwest, then back to the south before flight
controllers lost track of it.
There was fog in Concord about the time of the crash, and authorities were
investigating if weather was a factor.
No one on the ground was injured when the plane crashed near a crest of a
hill, said Concord police Lt. Barry Neal. Wreckage from the crash was strewn over
a 25-yard by 50-yard area about three miles from the airport. A narrow gap in
the tree canopy marked the spot where the plane plunged into the woods.
Neal said police were contacted by a woman jogger who came across the plane
shortly after it crashed. Firefighters reached the scene using all-terrain
vehicles, but found the Shahs dead on arrival.
FAA and National Transportation Safety Board officials were investigating.

Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press