This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/29/nyregion/colonia-nj-plane-crash.html

The article has changed 8 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 4 Version 5
Plane Crash: Pilot Is Killed After Cessna Hits N.J. Home Plane Crash: Cardiologist Dies as His Cessna Hits N.J. Home
(about 4 hours later)
A small plane had been spotted flying low on Tuesday morning just before it fell from the sky and through the roof of a suburban New Jersey home, officials said. A small plane piloted by a prominent cardiologist heading toward New York City for a lecture was spotted flying unusually low just before 11 a.m. on Tuesday.
Fog and light drizzle blanketed the township of Woodbridge as the plane plummeted, clipping the tops of trees and the roof of one home before slamming into another, Mayor John E. McCormac said. It clipped trees and the roof of a house in northern New Jersey as it lost control on a morning damp with drizzle and cloaked in fog.
The plane pierced the roof of the second home before coming to rest in the basement, igniting a fire that quickly engulfed the two-story structure and spread to two adjacent homes, Mr. McCormac said. Neighbors in the suburb of Colonia described a deafening sound as the plane, a twin-engine Cessna 414, crashed through the roof of a second home, plummeting two floors into the basement.
The pilot, the sole occupant of the plane, was killed in the crash, according to a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board. The inferno that followed engulfed the home and spread quickly to two adjacent houses, drawing emergency responders from eight nearby towns to the tree-lined street.
“It had to come in straight down,” Mr. McCormac said. “It’s miraculous that nobody was hurt on the ground.” Despite the severity of the crash and the fast-moving blaze, no one on the ground was injured.
The mayor said a neighbor described seeing the plane flying lower than normal just before hearing a deafening crash. “It’s miraculous,” said John E. McCormac, the mayor of the township of Woodbridge, which includes Colonia.
The plane, which originated in Leesburg, Va., had been headed for Linden Airport, a municipal airport about 25 miles southwest of Midtown Manhattan, Mr. McCormac said. The pilot, identified as Dr. Michael Schloss by his wife and by the director of the New Jersey airport where the plane had been headed, did not survive the crash. The pilot was the only person aboard the plane, according to a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board.
The couple who lived in the home were at work, and their child was at school, Mr. McCormac said. The woman who lives in a neighboring house on Berkley Avenue in Colonia, which is part of Woodbridge, heard the noise and fled before the fire reached her home, he added. “This man was a true Renaissance man — a fine gentleman,” said the director, Paul Dudley, who added that Dr. Schloss regularly flew into Linden Airport, which is about 25 miles southwest of Midtown Manhattan.
“It’s a loss to the medical community and it’s a loss to the aviation community,” Mr. Dudley added.
The pilot’s wife, Julie Seraphin Schloss, said he had been headed to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital for a Grand Rounds lecture on Wednesday. Dr. Schloss, 74, had worked for years as a professor and cardiologist at a hospital associated with New York University, his wife said.
“He was a fantastic cardiologist,” Ms. Seraphin Schloss said.
Mr. Dudley said Linden Airport got a call from the air tower at Newark Liberty International Airport trying to verify that the plane, which had originated in Leesburg, Va., had landed. An official with the Federal Aviation Administration called a second time, and provided the plane’s tale number, Mr. Dudley said.
The last two letters of the plane’s identification stood for the couple’s first names — M and J, Mr. Dudley said.
He said Dr. Schloss was a trained instrument pilot who had decades of experience flying complex airplanes, including a fighter jet.
“I can’t help but think something else must have gone wrong that overwhelmed him,” said Mr. Dudley, who described the weather conditions as “horrible.”
Officials with the F.A.A. and the N.T.S.B. were headed to New Jersey to determine what might have caused the plane to crash.
Mayor McCormac said a neighbor described seeing the plane flying lower than normal just before hearing the crash.
The couple who lived in the home that was struck were at work, and their child was at school, he said. A woman who lives in one of the neighboring houses on Berkley Avenue heard the noise and fled before the fire reached her home, Mr. McCormac said.
“The house was completely engulfed,” he said. “Thank God no one was home.”“The house was completely engulfed,” he said. “Thank God no one was home.”
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board said investigators were headed to the site to investigate what caused the plane, a Cessna 414, to crash. The Cessna went down in a quiet residential neighborhood, not far from an elementary school. The school was not evacuated, but students were dismissed just after 1 p.m. because power was temporarily cut off in the area, the district superintendent said.
Officials at Linden Airport, which is about five miles northeast of Colonia, said they had no additional information about the plane or the crash.
The Cessna went down in a quiet residential neighborhood, not far from an elementary school. The school was not evacuated, but students were dismissed just after 1 p.m. because power was temporarily cut off in the area, officials said.
Hours after the crash, neighbors were still standing on front lawns and under tents that were set up by emergency workers.Hours after the crash, neighbors were still standing on front lawns and under tents that were set up by emergency workers.
“The house is half-missing, and it’s all black,” said David Kaca, 19, who returned home from class at Seton Hall University to find the neighborhood filled with smoke.“The house is half-missing, and it’s all black,” said David Kaca, 19, who returned home from class at Seton Hall University to find the neighborhood filled with smoke.
Dr. Schloss had been a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association since 1979, according to Dick Knapinski, a spokesman for the association. Dr. Schloss served for six years as the president of its Warbirds of America division, which is dedicated to the preservation of vintage military aircraft.
“We are truly mystified as to how this could have happened,” Mr. Dudley said.
Susan C. Beachy contributed research.