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Astute Pilot Opts Not to Fly

Wed, 10/19/2022 - 18:09

Laura Traphagen aborted a takeoff from the East Hampton Airport on the afternoon of Oct. 11 after the Diamond Star XLS DA-40 plane she was piloting experienced a brake malfunction.

Ms. Traphagen, an East Hampton Village resident, told town police that she was about to take off when she “felt her brakes stalling and ‘grabbing’ the runway.” After determining that the emergency brake was not engaged, and therefore not the culprit, she deemed it wise to stay on the ground. The plane, however, continued to motor down the runway before running out of asphalt, at which point it veered off to a grassy area beyond, crashing into a metal fence before coming to a halt.

Its left wing was damaged in the collision, as was a left propeller light. The fence was also damaged. Police contacted Drew Adira of the Federal Aviation Administration’s regional Farmingdale office to report the incident.

Ms. Traphagen, 59, who was the lone occupant of the Austrian-built single engine four-seater, was uninjured.

Convicted Man Given Grace

Darius Petty, who last year was accused of kidnapping and robbing three young men at gunpoint in the parking lot of the East Hampton Senior Center, and was sentenced in June to three years in prison, was released from custody in July for a monthlong “grace period” before his incarceration. On Tuesday, Suffolk Supreme Court Justice Timothy P. Mazzei agreed to extend the time for an additional month.

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On the Police Logs 08.28.25

After leaving his house early Saturday, a Montauk man found a stranger asleep in his guest room when he returned late that afternoon. The intruder told police he was “unsure how, when, or why” he’d got there, adding that he’d been drinking the night before.

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Teen Cyclist Hurt in Collision

A 15-year-old bike rider was injured on Aug. 19 after colliding with a Chevrolet pickup truck by the side of Montauk Highway in East Hampton.

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He ‘Just Needed to Stop’

A Florida resident faces two felony drunken-driving charges after Sag Harbor Village police, responding to a welfare check, found him lying on a sidewalk early on the morning of Aug. 20.

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