Russ Francis, former Patriots tight end, killed in Lake Placid plane crash

Russ Francis, former Patriots tight end, killed in Lake Placid plane crash

Russ Francis, a former tight end for the New England Patriots, and Richard McSpadden, a former US Air Force Thunderbirds commander and aviation safety expert, perished in an aircraft crash south of Lake Placid, New York, on Sunday.

According to the Lake Placid News and the National Transportation Safety Board, MSpadden was seated in the right seat of the single-engine Cessna when it crashed close to the Lake Placid Airpocrt at approximately 4 p.m. Francis, seventy, was seated on the left. Who was operating the aircraft was unclear.

An NTSB official stated that an investigator was scheduled to visit the crash site on Monday with the goal of “documenting the scene, examining the aircraft, requesting any air traffic communications, radar data, weather reports and trying to contact any witnesses.”