Pilot killed in plane crash near Greenwood Lake Airport

BY ERIKA NORTON
WEST MILFORD — A single-engine private plane crashed Wednesday afternoon at the Jungle Habitat property in West Milford, leaving the pilot — the sole occupant of the aircraft — dead.
According to a Federal Aviation Administration statement, the plane, a Piper PA-32, crashed in a heavlily wooded area around 2:38 p.m. on Wednesday after taking off from runway 24 of the Greenwood Lake Airport.
The crash caused a small brushfire, according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, that the Forest Fire Service was still working to control as of 5:18 p.m. on Wednesday.
The name of the victim had not been released as of press time.
The entrance to the former safari theme park area was still blocked off by authorities as of Thursday morning.
New Jersey State Park Police, Bureau of Emergency Response and New Jersey Forest Fire Service responded to the scene, and were assisted by local police and fire personnel.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board were also contacted and are leading the investigation into the cause of the crash.
Orange & Rockland reported an outage near the area affecting 947 customers shortly after the incident. Power was restored to all customers by 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Calls to the Greenwood Lake Airport were not immediately returned.
The Greenwood Lake Airport is is a public-use airport in West Milford, owned by the New Jersey Department of Transportation, and managed and operated by Greenwood Lake Airport Management. It covers an area of 150 acres and has one runway.
Along with small aircraft, Hackensack University Medical Center’s AirMed1 operates out of the facility and has offices located in the main building of the airport.