 State police and the NTSB investigating after a small research plane crashed today into the Treg Avon River in Easton, killing the pilot. Crash occurring around 9.30 this morning. Officials say the plane had taken off from Tipton Airport and was bound for Easton. Divers recovered the body of the pilot. The plane was owned by the nonprofit University Research Foundation and was used to conduct environmental research, both for the State Department of the Environment and the University of Maryland. Eric Heikhausen.