A plane crashed in an empty parking lot of a shopping center on Tuesday morning in Easton, Massachusetts. The plane was owned by a nonprofit organization that schedules free flights for sick people to treatment centers. The three people onboard, a cancer patient, his wife and the pilot, died on the spot.

Robert H. Gregory, 46 and his wife Donna, 37, had twins of only 4 years old and they were flying to Boston in needing for a medical treatment. The pilot, Joseph E. Baker, 65, was from Brookfield and he had no prior crashes or problems with his license.

The nonprofit organization, Angel Flight Northeast, gathers volunteer pilots to arrange the free flights with patients who need transport to hospitals. This organization started its business 12 years ago and has had flown nearly 53,000 patients on more than 30,000 flights.

The plane took off from Westhampton Beach, N.Y. and was heading for Logan International Airport in Boston, as a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said. Gregory was going to receive cancer treatment at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the plane crashed nearly 25 miles south of Boston.

Allen Krajcik, a deputy chief and pilot, was on patrol at the time the plane crashed and he said he had seen the plane flying erratically at about 10:15 a.m. and then went to the scene accompanied by emergency workers.

This is the third crash in the last three months of the Angel Flight Northeast as last month a pilot and two passengers died in a crash in Tampa, Fla. The plane was returning with a patient who had just received treatment for lung cancer.