UPDATE: 12:59 p.m.: The pilot who died in a tragic plane crash on the Long Island Sound on Wednesday was a male, according to the United States Coast Guard.
The aircraft was described as a single-engine, amateur-built fixed wing Raven, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Mattituck Fire Department divers responded and recovered a body from the aircraft.
The male pilot was pronounced dead by a Suffolk County medical examiner at approximately 12 p.m. Monday. The name of the deceased is being withheld until next of kin notification has been made.
The National Transportation Safety Board will be the lead agency for investigating the crash.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, The USCG found the aircraft submerged in water four miles north of Mattituck. The FAA will investigate.
UPDATE: 12:23 p.m. The pilot of an aircraft that plummeted into the Long Island Sound early Monday has been confirmed as the victim that died in the accident, Southold Town Police Chief Martin Flatley confirmed Monday. Flatley did not know if the pilot was a man or a woman.
According to the Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound, a report came in at 8:50 a.m. about a possible downed aircraft located eight miles north of Mattituck Inlet; the alert was called in by another aircraft operating in the vicinity. The aircraft was described as a small, white, experimental aircraft with a parachute deployed.
A rescue boat crew from Coast Guard Station New Haven from New Haven, Conn., searched the waters with a helicopter and a ship, along with Suffolk County Marine, Riverhead and Southold emergency medical services. The plane went down about seven miles offshore east of Iron Pier in Riverhead, officials said.
A police dive team went out to conduct a search and has come back, Flatley said.
Agencies are assessing the situation and the cause of the accident is currently under investigation, the Coast Guard said.
No information is yet available on the identity of the occupant of the craft.
Riverhead Police said at 10:08 a.m. they had located the aircraft and “a subject” with it.
The FAA is investigating the accident, Flatley said.
According to the FAA definition of an amateur-built aircraft, “the major portion of which has been fabricated and assembled by person(s) who undertook the construction project soley for their own education or recreation.”
