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)美國媒體報道，美國時間的6月13日早上，美國著名億萬富翁大衛(wèi)·洛克菲勒的兒子，65歲的理查德·洛克菲勒駕駛飛機時不幸墜機遇難。在這父親節(jié)前夕，白發(fā)人送黑發(fā)人，對于99歲大衛(wèi)·洛克菲勒來說是一個不小的打擊。

報道稱，理查德·洛克菲勒駕駛的單引擎飛機在早上8點08分在紐約州維斯切斯特郡的白原機場起飛。起飛后，飛機撞上機場西南部的樹，10分鐘后墜毀于紐約州立大學帕徹斯校園外的卡塔哥道上。65歲的理查德·洛克菲勒當場不治身亡。

據(jù)了解，65歲的理查德·洛克菲勒是億萬富翁大衛(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回到緬因州的家中為父親慶祝99歲大壽，并與父親共進晚餐。

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