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Fatal Plane Crash In Yates County

Yates County Sheriff's Dept.

The Yates County Sheriff’s Department has now identified the man who died after the small plane he was piloting crashed at the Penn Yan Airport on Sunday.

He is 55 year old Steven Seely, who is from Stanley, in Ontario County. It happened late Sunday morning as a single-engine Cessna was taking off from the main runway at the airport.

The plane veered off to the left, and went nose first into the ground.

The plane ended up nearly 100 yards away from the runway and came to rest near a fence and some trees.  Seely was pronounced dead at the scene.

Sheriff Ron Spike says that Seely was a member of the Penn Yan Flying Club, but he owned his own plane that he kept at the airport. He had a student pilot license and it appears he was practicing take-offs and landings when the accident happened.   

Seely is the owner of the Seely Engine Machine business in Ontario County. The cause of death is pending an autopsy.

The FAA and NTSB are also investigating.

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.