Plane Crash Claims Two Lives Off Empire Boulevard

By Rachel Ward with Bud Lowell

Rochester, NY – A small Cessna seaplane crashed shortly after taking off from Irondequoit Bay Thursday -- killing two veterans pilots who were on their way to a fishing trip in Quebec.

Friends said the victims were 50 year old Michael Barclay of Rush -- a professor at the University of Rochester's Simon School of Business -- and 57 year old David Finger, a Perinton businessman.

The plane departed from the Southpoint Marina on the southernmost point of the Irondequoit Bay, just outside the parking lot for Bazil's restaurant at Empire Boulevard. It crashed about a quarter of a mile east of there.

Witnesses say the plane didn't gain altitude as quickly as it should have, and then dropped from the sky. Mario Daniele, who owns Bazil's and the marina said that he had seen the crash site, and from the area around it, it looked as if the plane had simply dropped out of the sky, rather than skidding or spiraling. The plane crashed in a marshy area off of the road; firefighters had to clear tall grasses to get to the site, which was not accessible by a public road.

Daniele says he knows the men who were in the plane well, and that he'd even flown with them in it before. He said they were cautious and respectful, not accustomed to taking risks. Daniele says the cause of the crash must have been the result of a serious engine failure or mechanical problem.

At the crash site, the plane was engulfed in flames. Firefighters from West Webster were the first to respond to the crash, and they said the black plume of smoke was visible from their headquarters on Gravel Road. The fire was under control within an hour of the crash.

Firefighters put a tent over the wreckage after the fire was out and the media were prevented from accessing the scene.

West Webster fire was joined by first responders from Laurelton and Irondequoit, as well as the coast guard station. The FAA and the Monroe County Medical Examiner were on the scene within an hour of the crash.

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