EDINBURGH, N.Y. (AP) – A 76-year-old man died Sunday after crashing his single-engine plane during a landing attempt, state police said. John Milczarek was trying to land his Cessna 172 at the Sky Plateau Ranch airport in Edinburgh, 41 miles north of Albany, around 2:20 p.m. The plane struck pine trees near the end of the runway and crashed nose-down into a nearby road, police said.

Witnesses said it appeared Milczarek, of Round Lake, had aborted a landing attempt, but couldn’t clear the trees when he tried to pull the plane up. Rescuers responding to the crash said witnesses who live near the airport went to the crash scene and pulled the pilot from the wreckage, possibly causing him further injury.

An autopsy will be conducted at Saratoga Hospital.

The Federal Aviation Administration is heading the investigation into the crash.

Separately, authorities on Sunday identified the two people who died in a twin-engine plane crash at the eastern edge of the Adirondacks.

Milton Marshall, 76, of Oxford, Conn., and Michael Keilty, 40, of Sandy Hook, Conn. were killed Saturday morning when the Piper Navajo Marshall was piloting went down in a remote area outside Putnam Pond State Campground.

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

AP-ES-07-11-04 2115EDT