U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is calling on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to investigate the recent string of small plane crashes on Long Island. Since the beginning of the year, seven small planes have crashed in Nassau and Suffolk Counties, more than all of last year.
Schumer said the FAA needs to see if there is a pattern behind the crashes.
“This is Long Island. This isn’t the Bermuda Triangle,” Schumer said.
While the National Transportation Safety Board investigates individual crashes, it’s up to the FAA to determine if there is a common thread.
“Is something different in the weather patterns or wind patterns on Long Island? Is there something different about the communications from the towers to the small pilots on Long Island? Or is it just a series of bad accidents that are all coincidental?"
He says the agency could then make new flight rules or recommendations.
Four people have been killed in the seven crashes since February.