The NTSB has sent an air safety investigator to look into what caused a small plane to crash in Cattaraugus County Wednesday.

One of the plane’s passengers, identified by the Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Office as William Mandelare, 80, of Brockport, died in the crash. Another passenger, Raymond Groetsch, 72, of Brockport, was taken by Mercy Flight to ECMC.

The plane crashed just after taking off from the Great Valley Airport.

The NTSB confirms it was a Cessna 177 airplane. 

Katie Jensen lives in Great Valley, and watched a plane take off from the airport with her daughter. She said she heard another plane take off, and then all of a sudden heard an explosion, and then saw smoke.

"It actually took off and there's a trailer park right where it crashed, and there were people outside. They said that it looked like it was having difficulties, I don't know if it looked like it was going crooked or something, but they said it looked weird and then all of a sudden it was an explosion," Jensen said.

She added that she was less than a mile away from where the crash occurred. She tells Spectrum News she didn't actually see the plane go down, but knew something was wrong.

"I knew it was a plane crash but I didn't know what to do at first because I didn't see it with my own eyes," she said.

She ultimately called 911. She said she saw smoke and flames when first responders were on scene.

She describes Great Valley as a small town where everybody knows everybody, and the crash site was in the vicinity of a pretty populated area.