Dec 9, 2018
PARAMUS – A small plane bound for Poughkeepsie, New York, landed on the ninth hole of the Paramus Golf Course shortly after noon Sunday after the pilot reported engine trouble, officials said.
Three adults and a child were on board, and all four were taken to Hackensack University Medical Center, said Paramus Police Chief Kenneth Ehrenberg. He said one adult wasn’t injured, and the injuries to the other three were minor.
The Mooney M20 aircraft made a forced landing in Paramus at 12:15 p.m., said Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson Rick Breitenfeldt.
The pilot took off from Lincoln Park Airport, Ehrenberg said. While flying over Paramus the pilot reported engine trouble.
The course was not packed with golfers, but there were a few out on the course when the plane was beginning to land.
“I heard it and saw it hovering over,” said Paul Dykes who was on the third hole. “I kept thinking he was going to crash. We ran over. It looked like they were all in shock.”
The plane landed on the fairway of the ninth hole, Ehrenberg said.
“The woman in the plane was shaking,” said Bob Wolff, who was playing a round of golf. “I’m in shock.”
The FAA will investigate the incident, Breitenfeldt said.
The Mooney aircraft is registered to Jonas DeLeon, according to flight records. According to a July article in Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, DeLeon has been a pilot since 1993 and is a teacher at Gregorio Luperon High School for Science and Mathematics in Manhattan.
According to the article, DeLeon convinced the school to invest in aviation courses in the hopes to get students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
DeLeon was not listed as a patient Sunday night, a hospital operator said.
Paramus Golf Course remained open Sunday, a course official said. Holes one through seven along with the 17th and 18th holes were open after the landing.
The incident was enough to deter Dykes.
“That plane crash stopped my golf concentration,” he said. “Imagine if the course was full.”
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