4 Connecticut residents killed in plane crash in Vermont, including a 15-year-old during flight lessons

Four Connecticut residents, including a teenager taking flying lessons, were killed in a plane crash in Vermont over the weekend, authorities said.

The four-seat, single-engine Piper plane took off from Windham Airport in Connecticut at about 8:30 a.m. Sunday for a short flight to Ferrisburgh, where the passengers stopped for a brunch reservation at Basin Hill, according to Vermont State Police.

The group of four left the restaurant shortly after noon to fly back to Connecticut. They departed Basin Harbor Airport at around 12:15 p.m.

Although no reports of an aircraft emergency or crash were received, the plane did not return to Windham and relatives of the passengers reported the situation to the Connecticut State Police and the Middletown, Connecticut Police Department, police said.

Working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), authorities used cellphone data to determine the plane's location near the runway in Vermont.

Using a drone, Vermont State Police and local authorities located the wreckage around 12:20 a.m. Monday in a wooded area east of Basin Airport.

When rescue workers arrived on the scene, they found that all four occupants were dead.

They were identified Monday as Paul Pelletier, 55, of Columbia, Frank Rodriguez, 88, of Lebanon, Susan Van Ness, 51, and her daughter Delilah Van Ness, 15, both of Middletown.

Delilah Van Ness, a sophomore at Middletown High School, took flying lessons from Pelletier, the school's flight technology instructor.

It is unclear who was flying the plane when it crashed.

“This unimaginable loss has left a void in our hearts and our community,” Dr. Alberto Vázquez Matos, superintendent of Middletown Public Schools, said in a statement.

“Paul, Delilah and Susan were special people whose absence is already felt throughout our district and our city,” he added.

The high school was closed Tuesday to allow the school community to grieve. School officials said counseling services would be available to students and staff upon their return.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the FAA and the National Transit Safety Board.

The bodies of the victims were taken to the Burlington Medical Examiner's Office, where autopsies will be performed to determine the cause of death.