McGee is believed to be the only person aboard the plane at the time. Authorities also recovered parts of the aircraft, including pieces of fiberglass, a wheel, fuselage and personal property.
#Harbor #SCUBA & @nycoem remove the plane wreckage from the @NYPD100Pct @uscoastguard dock to #FBF @NTSB @FAANews pic.twitter.com/UMCfFm6Z4U
— NYPD Special Ops (@NYPDSpecialops) November 6, 2015
The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash.
NTSB investigating Wednesday crash in Queens, N.Y. of a Flight Design GMBH CTLS that impacted water.
— NTSB (@NTSB) November 5, 2015
A 911 call came in just before 8 p.m. Wednesday that a fixed-wing, single-engine aircraft went down off Beach 219 Street at Breezy Point Boulevard. The NYPD and FDNY searched nearby water.
#BREAKING: Massive response off #BreezyPoint after small plane crash. No word on casualties. #abc7ny pic.twitter.com/JrLoOncmtY
— Josh Einiger (@JoshEiniger7) November 5, 2015
After about an hour and a half, debris from the small plane was found about 1.5 miles off Breezy Point.
NOW: Small plane goes down by Breezy Point. #Harbor #SCUBA & #Aviation are actively searching for aideds/debris pic.twitter.com/4SWXpUTSfg
— NYPD Special Ops (@NYPDSpecialops) November 5, 2015
The plane was believed to have left Philadelphia around 7:30 p.m. en route to Portsmouth, N.H., cruising at 1,000 feet. The plane, a two-seater, believed to be a Cirrus SR22, was registered in New Hampshire. There was no flight plan available for Wednesday.
The FAA reports that no distress call was made.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.