Skip Miller
Final Approach
First reports are that it came apart in mid-air. This one is not good....
From the NY Times:
Small Plane Breaks Apart Midflight, Killing Four
By RONALD SMOTHERS
Published: June 1, 2006
Two New Jersey couples were killed yesterday when the single-engine plane they were in broke apart and crashed in a wooded area in Ocean County, scattering small pieces of the craft on rooftops and in the yards in a small community of bungalows and narrowly missing a major highway, the authorities said.
A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said the plane, a Piper Dakota, took off from Old Bridge Airport in Middlesex County at 10:17 a.m. with four people on board. It was bound for Bader Field in Atlantic City but plummeted to the ground about 11:20 a.m. The spokesman, Jim Peters, said the cause of the crash was unclear.
The Stafford Township police identified the victims as Ronald Ziv, 53, and Rachel Ziv, 40, of Basking Ridge, N.J., and David Nimrod, 48, and Karen Nimrod, 50, of Manalapan, N.J. The authorities said the plane was registered to Mr. Ziv, a licensed pilot. Neighbors said Mr. Ziv worked in the juice industry and that the couple divided their time between New Jersey and Israel. The Nimrods' son, David, said in a telephone interview last night that his mother was an occupational therapist and his father worked at a technology company. The two couples had been friends for years, said David, whose 13th birthday is today.
Last night David was packing up his gerbil's supplies, he said, preparing to move with his 15-year-old brother, Michael, into his grandparents' house.
"They didn't even tell me they were going on the trip," said David, who last saw his father Tuesday night and his mother yesterday morning.
Pieces of the plane that had scattered yesterday morning were found in the subdivision just south of Route 72, an east-west highway that connects Long Beach Island to the mainland. But the police said they found most of the wreckage in a wooded and marshy area north of the highway.
Joe Policastro, who was in his summer home in the subdivision in Beach Haven West, said he rushed from the bungalow after hearing a blast yesterday.
"I couldn't tell what it was," Mr. Policastro said. "But then I saw a small piece of debris on the roof of the house across the street."
Capt. Charles Schweigart of the Stafford Township police said his department had received up to a dozen calls from residents saying that something had exploded over their homes. When the police arrived at the site of the crash, they closed off part of Route 72 so that debris could be removed from the road.
More than 50 police officers and firefighters made their way through a heavily wooded area just north of the roadway, where they found the main part of the wreckage and the bodies of three of those on board, Captain Schweigart said. He added that bulldozers and gravel would be brought in to cut and lay a path into the thick stands of pine, maple and elm to get to the wreckage.
"It's been extremely crazy," he said. "We've never had anything like this before. We have manpower there, one lane of traffic shut down. It's really unusual. The only other thing that happened like this was an emergency landing on Route 72 eight years ago."
Jeff LaMarco, who owns the house near Mr. Policastro's that was struck by a piece of debris, rushed to the crash site from his other home in Hazlet. He stood by the waterfront development as firefighters retrieved a three- to four-foot long piece of painted sheet metal.
Mr. LaMarco said that the piece of debris, which a fireman easily carried away with one hand, had left about a six- to eight-inch gash in his roof.
"It could have been worse," he said. "I could have been on that plane."
endquote.
Thanks for the sympathy, Mr. LaMarco!
-Skip
From the NY Times:
Small Plane Breaks Apart Midflight, Killing Four
By RONALD SMOTHERS
Published: June 1, 2006
Two New Jersey couples were killed yesterday when the single-engine plane they were in broke apart and crashed in a wooded area in Ocean County, scattering small pieces of the craft on rooftops and in the yards in a small community of bungalows and narrowly missing a major highway, the authorities said.
A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said the plane, a Piper Dakota, took off from Old Bridge Airport in Middlesex County at 10:17 a.m. with four people on board. It was bound for Bader Field in Atlantic City but plummeted to the ground about 11:20 a.m. The spokesman, Jim Peters, said the cause of the crash was unclear.
The Stafford Township police identified the victims as Ronald Ziv, 53, and Rachel Ziv, 40, of Basking Ridge, N.J., and David Nimrod, 48, and Karen Nimrod, 50, of Manalapan, N.J. The authorities said the plane was registered to Mr. Ziv, a licensed pilot. Neighbors said Mr. Ziv worked in the juice industry and that the couple divided their time between New Jersey and Israel. The Nimrods' son, David, said in a telephone interview last night that his mother was an occupational therapist and his father worked at a technology company. The two couples had been friends for years, said David, whose 13th birthday is today.
Last night David was packing up his gerbil's supplies, he said, preparing to move with his 15-year-old brother, Michael, into his grandparents' house.
"They didn't even tell me they were going on the trip," said David, who last saw his father Tuesday night and his mother yesterday morning.
Pieces of the plane that had scattered yesterday morning were found in the subdivision just south of Route 72, an east-west highway that connects Long Beach Island to the mainland. But the police said they found most of the wreckage in a wooded and marshy area north of the highway.
Joe Policastro, who was in his summer home in the subdivision in Beach Haven West, said he rushed from the bungalow after hearing a blast yesterday.
"I couldn't tell what it was," Mr. Policastro said. "But then I saw a small piece of debris on the roof of the house across the street."
Capt. Charles Schweigart of the Stafford Township police said his department had received up to a dozen calls from residents saying that something had exploded over their homes. When the police arrived at the site of the crash, they closed off part of Route 72 so that debris could be removed from the road.
More than 50 police officers and firefighters made their way through a heavily wooded area just north of the roadway, where they found the main part of the wreckage and the bodies of three of those on board, Captain Schweigart said. He added that bulldozers and gravel would be brought in to cut and lay a path into the thick stands of pine, maple and elm to get to the wreckage.
"It's been extremely crazy," he said. "We've never had anything like this before. We have manpower there, one lane of traffic shut down. It's really unusual. The only other thing that happened like this was an emergency landing on Route 72 eight years ago."
Jeff LaMarco, who owns the house near Mr. Policastro's that was struck by a piece of debris, rushed to the crash site from his other home in Hazlet. He stood by the waterfront development as firefighters retrieved a three- to four-foot long piece of painted sheet metal.
Mr. LaMarco said that the piece of debris, which a fireman easily carried away with one hand, had left about a six- to eight-inch gash in his roof.
"It could have been worse," he said. "I could have been on that plane."
endquote.
Thanks for the sympathy, Mr. LaMarco!
-Skip
