Local Man Dies In NY State Plane Crash

TICONDEROGA, N.Y. — A prominent businessman from Sandy Hook was one of two victims identified by authorities this week following the fatal crash of a twin-engine airplane on July 10 at the eastern edge of the Adirondacks.

The victims were identified as pilot Milton Marshall, 76, of Oxford, and passenger Michael E. Keilty, 40, of Sandy Hook.

Mr Marshall was piloting the Piper Navajo Saturday morning when golfers at a country club witnessed the circling plane drop out of sight about 9 am. The golfers then heard a loud explosion. 

Authorities said the plane hit the ground in a remote area outside Putnam Pond State Campground and started a fire upon impact. Debris was strewn all around and emergency crews extinguished the flames around the crash site.

The plane had taken off from Waterbury-Oxford Airport in Connecticut and was headed for the Ticonderoga airport, about 85 miles north of Albany.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.

In 2002, Mr Keilty had received the Businessman of the Year 2001 of Connecticut award and the Republican of the Year award in a ceremony in the atrium of the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C.

Mr Keilty was the chairman and chief executive officer of Atlantic Communications, Inc, a Danbury-based communications company, and also of ID Trek Systems, Inc, which manufactures and distributes a fraud identification system intended for increased airport security.

A native of Brookfield with a master’s degree in criminal justice, Mr Keilty had worked as a police officer in Danbury and a drug unit commander in Pennsylvania before an injury forced him to leave law enforcement and purchase a business.

“I was just 18 when I joined the Danbury police department, and I was only there three and a half years before I went to Scranton, Penn., to work in narcotics,” Mr Keilty said in a 2002  interview. “I broke my back during a drug arrest and had to retire when I was 31 years old. I used the opportunity to move back to this area, and I bought a small company. Ten acquisitions later, it’s no longer small. We also have offices in Liberty, N.Y., and Syracuse, N.Y.”

Atlantic Communications and ID Trek Systems have corporate headquarters in Danbury. Atlantic is one of Connecticut’s largest in-bound call centers that provide such communication services as answering services, electronic order processing, and custom services throughout the eastern part of the United States. Then Mr Keilty launched ID Trek Systems, a fraud and identification program that was originally targeted at the alcohol and drug industry throughout the United States.

“I designed it and I patented it,” Mr Keilty said. “I was looking for something to help the alcohol industry, then it expanded into cigarettes. The system detects fake identification. But never did I ever think that it might eventually be used in airports.”

After terrorists hijacked four planes on September 11, 2001, ID Trek Systems caught the attention of those responsible for security at airports and other critical locations, creating new opportunities for the firm.

Mr Keilty lived on Aspen Lane in Sandy Hook with his wife and three children.