Pilot dies in plane Crash approaching Buffalo

Paul S. Marsh departed Lansing, Michigan, on the morning of December 19, 2024, in his 1979 Beechcraft A36TC Bonanza, bound for Westchester County Airport in White Plains, New York. He was flying to visit family. Eighty minutes into the flight, cruising at 12,500 feet, he keyed the radio and told air traffic control something had gone wrong with his engine.

Accident Facts

A Cruise Flight That Stopped Being Routine

The Bonanza left Capital Region International Airport (KLAN) at 9:53 a.m. and climbed to 12,500 feet on a route toward White Plains. For the first eighty minutes there was nothing in the flight to suggest trouble. Then, at about 11:11 a.m. local time, the aircraft turned north and began to descend.

Marsh radioed that he had very low power in the engine. There was an active weather advisory for icing between 12,000 and 14,000 feet over the areat the time, a detail investigators would later note alongside the reported power loss.

Two Diversions, Then a Highway

Air traffic control first worked to route Marsh toward Buffalo Niagara International Airport, the nearest large field capable of handling the aircraft. As the descent continued and the options narrowed, controllers shifted the plan to Buffalo Airfield, a smaller strip roughly six miles south of the larger airport.

When neither airport looked achievable, the controller began vectoring Marsh toward a highway for a forced landing. Marsh acknowledged the instructions and appeared to be complying with the vectors normally. Moments later, radar contact was lost.

The Crash Near Stewart Court

The Bonanza went down in a wooded area between two residences on Stewart Court in the Town of Aurora, near a home owned by Buffalo Bills offensive lineman Dion Dawkins. The aircraft was destroyed and largely consumed by a post-impact fire. Marsh, the only occupant, was killed. No one on the ground was hurt.

Emergency crews from the Erie County Sheriff's Office, East Aurora Police, and New York State Police responded to the scene. Investigators later noted that the wreckage's engine accessories remained in place and were fire-damaged, and that an initial external examination of the engine did not reveal evidence of a catastrophic failure.

A Recent Weather Picture

METARs from the region in the hours around the accident showed broken to overcast ceilings and temperatures near freezing, consistent with the icing advisory active for the altitude band the Bonanza had been cruising through. Marsh held a private pilot certificate with an instrument rating, and his most recent FAA BasicMed course was current.

An Investigation Still Open

The NTSB classified the East Aurora crash as a Class 3 investigation, a category used when investigators are working to identify safety issues that may reveal the underlying cause rather than pursuing the most resource-intensive level of inquiry reserved for the most complex accidents. As of this writing, no final probable-cause determination has been published.

Marsh is survived by his children, grandchildren, siblings, and a niece. Family members remembered him for his kindness and his ability to find the positive in difficult circumstances.

Why the Final Minutes Matter

What is verifiable from the public record is the sequence: a cruise flight, a reported partial loss of engine power, two changes of diversion airport as the situation deteriorated, and a final vector toward a highway that ended before touchdown. Whether the reported power loss stemmed from mechanical failure, icing, or another cause is a question the ongoing NTSB investigation has not yet answered.

Sources

• Video source (ATC/audio reconstruction)

Buffalo News reporting on the NTSB investigation and pilot identification; contemporaneous local news coverage (WBEN, Spagnoletti Law Firm); Aviation Safety Network accident record; video. NTSB investigation remains open; no final report available at time of writing.