Ridgefield Teen in Fatal Plane Crash Had Pilot License

Cathryn "Carey" Depuy and Ryan Adams, both 18-year-old Ridgefield residents, were killed.

The 18-year-old Ridgefield resident who was piloting a small plane that crashed, killing her and a college classmate, was flying with a pilot license and qualified to carry a passenger, according to federal aviation authorities.

Colgate University students Cathryn "Carey" Depuy and Ryan Adams, both 18-year-old freshmen from Ridgefield, Connecticut, were killed when the rented single-engine Cessna 150 crashed Sunday not far from the school.

Records show Depuy held a student pilot license issued in October 2013.

On Wednesday, the Federal Aviation Administration said she had also qualified for a pilot license, which hadn't been reflected in their database of pilot records. The agency would not release the date of the license. A relative said it was in August.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

Depuy had taken off from Hamilton Municipal Airport around 1 p.m. Sunday and crashed a short while later in a tree line in the rural town of Eaton.

National Transportation Safety Board investigator Tim Monville said Tuesday he was waiting for information from the FAA about any radio contact Depuy might have had with air traffic controllers.

He had no information about a distress call and said the only contact he had confirmed with the ground was a routine call from Depuy to the plane's owner as she checked in from above Colgate.

The FAA said Tuesday it wouldn't release any details until the conclusion of the investigation.

Monville said he was still working through witness accounts provided by local authorities and could not provide information about what they saw or heard as the small plane crashed. He said he was also waiting for radar data to determine the plane's altitude and flight path.

Depuy graduated from Ridgefield High School, where she was captain of the cross-country team.

Adams was a graduate of St. Luke's School in New Canaan, Connecticut. He won a school award for an economics paper and played on the varsity squash, soccer and golf teams, according to the school's website.

EDITOR'S NOTE: In earlier version of this story, The Associated Press, relying on information from the Federal Aviation Administration, erroneously reported the status of the pilot's license. Cathryn "Carey" Depuy had a pilot license and not just a student license, which would have forbidden her from carrying a passenger.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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