Frank and Joe Grieco killed in plane crash

The Northern Miner has learned that brothers Frank and Joe Grieco, principals of Oshawa, Ont.-crusher manufacturer PR Engineering, were killed in a small plane when it crashed attempting to land at an airstrip in Dunkirk, N.Y.

A source told T.N.M. that flight training instructor Max Hudson was also killed in the crash.

Frank was 56, and Joe was 60.

The three men were the only people aboard a late-model, twin-engine Beechcraft 55 Baron that left Oshawa at around 8:30 a.m. on May 17 after filing a flight plan for New Castle Cty. Airport in Wilmington, Delaware.

Before reaching its intended destination, the pilot radioed the Buffalo Niagara International Airport and asked to land at Dunkirk because the planes left engine was running rough.

The plane was given permission to land but it overshot the runway by about 1,700 ft.

Reports say the plane tried to turn around under what airport officials deemed a low ceiling but the plane never came out of the turn and crashed in a field southwest of the airport at around 9:15 a.m.

The flight, filed under the letters CFDJP, lasted 43 minutes but was scheduled to take 2 hours.

Weve lost two great people today, said Jackie Fraser, who has been the office manager at PR Engineering for 27 years.

Paul Grieco, the late father of Frank and Joe, started PR Engineering in 1965 when he secured the Canadian rights to the Pennsylvania-based Birdsboro Buchanan line of jaw crushers.

Joe and Frank joined the company in 1973.

“We literally started the company at our kitchen table and built an office in the basement,” Frank Grieco told The Miner after his father had passed away in early 2003.

Frank will be sadly missed by his wife, Linda, and children Tracey, Shannon, Bianca, and Natalie, as well as grandchildren, Blake and Aiden.

Joe is survived by his wife, Donna, and children Nicole and Mason.