The Rockefeller family, after celebrating the 99th birthday of its billionaire patriarch David, is now planning a funeral for his doctor son after a morning plane wreck。

Richard Rockefeller died at the controls of his private Piper Meridian PA-46 when the single-engine craft crashed Friday in miserable weather conditions minutes after takeoff at Westchester County Airport。

Though several other flights were canceled due to the rain, fog and poor visibility, veteran pilot Rockefeller opted to take off at 8:08 a.m. from Runway 16 — and quickly dropped off the radar, authorities said。

Rockefeller, 65, was found dead amid wreckage of his plane, which barely missed hitting a house and building at Stratford Stables, just a half-mile from the White Plains airport。

The crash happened so quickly that Rockefeller never had time for a mayday call, officials said. A piece of the doomed plane’s wing dangled from a sheared pine tree as police in Purchase, N.Y., awaited the arrival of National Transportation Safety Board investigators。

Other large trees in the plane’s path were knocked askew, with one aircraft wheel thrown about 50 feet away from the main wreckage. No one on the ground was injured。

Rockefeller, the well-respected great-grandson of Standard Oil founder John D. Rockefeller Sr., was a regular flier and had decades of flight experience, according to a family spokesman。

【新聞快訊】

據(jù)美國(guó)媒體報(bào)道，美國(guó)時(shí)間的6月13日早上，美國(guó)著名億萬(wàn)富翁大衛(wèi)·洛克菲勒的兒子，65歲的理查德·洛克菲勒駕駛飛機(jī)時(shí)不幸墜機(jī)遇難。在這父親節(jié)前夕，白發(fā)人送黑發(fā)人，對(duì)于99歲大衛(wèi)·洛克菲勒來(lái)說(shuō)是一個(gè)不小的打擊。

報(bào)道稱(chēng)，理查德·洛克菲勒駕駛的單引擎飛機(jī)在早上8點(diǎn)08分在紐約州維斯切斯特郡的白原機(jī)場(chǎng)起飛。起飛后，飛機(jī)撞上機(jī)場(chǎng)西南部的樹(shù)，10分鐘后墜毀于紐約州立大學(xué)帕徹斯校園外的卡塔哥道上。65歲的理查德·洛克菲勒當(dāng)場(chǎng)不治身亡。

據(jù)了解，65歲的理查德·洛克菲勒是億萬(wàn)富翁大衛(wèi)·洛克菲勒的兒子，他也是洛克菲勒家族最著名的富豪約翰·洛克菲勒(1839-1937)的重孫。而就在事發(fā)前一天(12日)，理查德駕駛私人飛機(jī)回到緬因州的家中為父親慶祝99歲大壽，并與父親共進(jìn)晚餐。

洛克菲勒家族發(fā)言人弗雷澤·希特稱(chēng)：“這是一起可怕的悲劇，整個(gè)家族都震驚了。理查德是一名經(jīng)驗(yàn)豐富的飛行員，他已有好幾年駕駛飛機(jī)的經(jīng)驗(yàn)。”