Photos of Banker and investment company executive Jeffrey Buckalew family and his colleague Rakesh Chawlas died in a plane crash
Mr Buckalew, a Banker and Investment company Executive who was an experienced pilot and flying the plane when it was crashed, owned the plane and had been a pilot for more than ten years, was head of Greenhill & Company's North American Advisory activities, while Mr Chawla was a managing director.
Mr Buckalew's wife, Corinne, and their children, Jackson and Meriwether, were also aboard the plane that was seen losing a wing before it crashed.
Cockpit of the crashed plane along a busy New Jersey highway is lifted by a loader onto a flatbed truck.
Meriwether and Jackson Buckalew wish their family and friends love and hope for the year to come with their arms wrapped around each other as they smile tenderly for the camera,
But just days after this Christmas card was sent to friends and relatives, the two young children, along with their parents and dog, perished in a plane crash in New Jersey.
The message of hope for the future is now one of sadness - a heartbreaking reminder of the tragic loss of their young lives.
Meriwether and Jackson Buckalew smile with their dog for the family's Christmas card
It is believed that a dog
was also on board the Socata TBM-700 plane and perished with its owners.
The
news came as a shock to friends and family of Mr Chawla and the Buckalews.
Corinne
Buckalew’s brother-in-law George Scott, told that the family
was on their way to his Atlanta
home for a 'pre-Christmas visit'.
Fighting
back tears, George Scott, said: 'They were a remarkable family'.
Rakesh Chawla and
Jeffrey Buckalew
In a statement released
shortly after the crash, Greenhill said: 'The firm is in deep mourning over the
tragic and untimely death of two of its esteemed colleagues and members of
Jeff’s family'.
Later
speaking to NorthJersey.com, Greenhill founder and chairman Robert Greenhill
and CEO Scott Bok later praised Mr Buckalew and Mr Chawla as 'extraordinary
professionals who were highly respected by colleagues and clients alike'.
Mr
and Mrs Buckalew may have been wealthy, but they were also regarded as
extremely charitable figures in New
York.
Sister
Paulette LoMonaco, executive director of Good Shepherd Services, a youth
development group, called Mr Buckalew a 'compassionate and caring man'.
NorthJersey.com
reported that an organization led by Mr Buckalew donated $126,450 to various
charities last year.
Corinne Buckalew and her daughter Meriwether
Mr Buckalew's wife,
Corinne, and their two young children, Jackson and Meriwether, were also on
board the plane that was seen losing a wing before it crashed.
It
is also believed a dog was also on board the Socata TBM-700 plane and perished
with its owners.
Investigators
were looking into whether ice may have played a role in the horrific wreck.
The
pilot had a seven-second call with a controller about icing shortly before the
crash, NTSB investigator Robert Gretz said.
Photos of Parts of Crashed Plane in Highway
The plane wing is still stuck in a tree as dusk falls
Hazard workers assess the damage of the crash - debris from the small plane littered the highway
What appears to be part of the aircraft is on the highway as the fire service attends the scene
Investigators were looking into whether ice may have played a role in the horrific wreck.
The pilot had a seven-second call with a controller about icing shortly before the crash, NTSB investigator Robert Gretz said.
Mr Gretz said he did not know whether the pilot was reporting icing had occurred or was questioning the location of possible icing conditions.
He said he was unaware of any icing on the ground that would have required deicing.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the pilot had requested clearance to a higher altitude shortly before the plane dropped off radar.
The NTSB said the plane had climbed to 17,500 feet.
Ice can form on airplanes when temperatures are near freezing and there is visible moisture, such as clouds or rain.
The ice adds weight to an aircraft, and rough accumulations known as rime interrupt the flow of air over wings.
In extreme cases, a plane can lose so much lift that it falls out of the sky.
Icing played a role in crashes in 2009 involving a Colgan Air flight outside Buffalo, New York, and an Air France flight off the coast of Brazil.
In both cases the pilots sent their airplanes into uncontrolled spins while trying to deal with accumulations of ice.
The Colgan plane crashed into a house in Buffalo, killing all 49 people aboard the plane and an occupant of the home.
Most versions of the TBM-700 have deicing systems. But recordings available online show that even airliners with powerful deicing equipment were having trouble clearing the ice Tuesday.
The pilot of a commuter jetliner headed to nearby LaGuardia Airport in New York asked a controller for an immediate climb into drier conditions.
The pilot of the TBM-700 was told to maintain an altitude of 10,000 feet as he headed southwest over northern New Jersey. A controller warned him about the conditions in the clouds above.
'There are reports of moderate rime... If it gets worse let me know and when center takes your handoff I'll climb you and maybe get you higher,' the controller said.
The pilot responded: 'We'll let you know what happens when we get in there. And, yeah, if we could go straight through it, that's no problem for us.'
