By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, October 25, 1991
The Record (New Jersey) | 6 Star | NEWS | Page B03
A 26-year-old Franklin Lakes man was killed Wednesday when a single-engine plane he was flying over a national park hit a television cable, landed upside down in the Delaware River, and broke into pieces, authorities said.
Laurence W.P. Rizzo died instantly from the impact of the experimental, homemade aircraft on the water, Pike County Coroner James J. Martin said.
Rizzo had been a flight instructor for about 15 months at Sussex Airport. He had taken off from the airport at about 2 p.m., airport manager Paul Styger said. The plane crashed about 50 minutes later in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in Pike County, chief ranger Barry Sullivan said.
Rizzo was pulled from 4 feet of water, Sullivan said. Martin pronounced him dead at 3:12 p.m. He said Rizzo died of a broken neck.
Rizzo was alone when the plane crashed. The tail section separated from the rest of the fuselage.
Styger said Rizzo, who was born and raised in Paterson before moving to Franklin Lakes in 1976, had been teaching flying at the airport while building up time to apply for work as either a corporate or commercial airline pilot. Rizzo was a 1990 graduate of LeTourneau University in Long View, Texas.
Witnesses told Stroudsburg radio station WSBG-WVPO the plane had been flying low and appeared to have engine trouble as it dipped over the river, striking a cable line.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the cause of the crash, agency spokesman Duncan Pardue said Thursday.
Pardue described the aircraft as a wood and fiberglass plane built from a kit.
This article contains material from The Associated Press.
Keywords: PENNSYLVANIA; AVIATION; ACCIDENT; DEATH; FRANKLIN LAKES; MAN; LAURENCE RIZZO
ID: 17359084 | Copyright © 1991, The Record (New Jersey)
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