George Kolath

George Kolath, 42, and his son George Kolath Jr. gathered at Albany Medical Center last night around the body of the boy, found after the aircraft sank in 30 feet of water. The doctor, whose name was not released by authorities, also was found dead, said Kolath's brother-in-law Anil Paulose, of Manhasset.

The relatives at the hospital included George Kolath's mother, Chinnamma George, of New Hyde Park. Paulose said the search for Kolath had been suspended because of the darkness. Kolath's Piper Cherokee went down near Scotia around 2:30 p.m., shortly after taking off from the nearby Mohawk Valley Airport, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters said.

"He stopped for lunch at a small airport and they took off and their takeoff, we don't know what happened," Paulose said. "It fell into the water." Scotia is about 20 miles northwest of Albany. Witness Skip Ryan, a pilot who was waiting to take off behind the doomed plane, said it cleared some brush at the end of the runway and then appeared to lose power in the air, plummeting nose-first into the river. "I watched it go over the brush and go into the river," Ryan told the Daily Gazette of Schenectady.