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RESCUERS SEARCH IN VAIN FOR PLANE CRASH VICTIMS

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, January 2, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A08

Calmer waters Wednesday permitted a boat search of Rhode Island Sound, but rescue crews came up empty-handed in their attempt to locate a commuter airplane that vanished last week with three crew members, including a Dumont man.

New Year’s Day was the first day that weather was good enough to allow a sonar-equipped boat to get to the area of the crash, about eight miles east of Block Island.

Rescuers had little hope of finding any of the three men alive.

Pilot John E. Murphy Jr., 28, of Dumont had been training pilots Michael Kane, 31, of Walden, N.Y., and Michael Lurie, 28, of Massapequa, N.Y., on the twin-engine turboprop aircraft when it disappeared Saturday.

A helicopter had patroled the area, but high seas had prevented a search by a boat owned by American Underwater Search and Survey Ltd. A lobster boat east of Block Island dredged up pieces of the aircraft Sunday, including a 30-foot section of the right wing, a fuselage section with seats, a door with stairs, and part of a bulkhead.

Another boat found a four-foot tail section on Monday about four miles south of Block Island.

ID: 17364948 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey)

January 2, 1992
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HOMEMADE PLANE CRASHES; FRANKLIN LAKES MAN KILLED; CRAFT HIT CABLE OVER U.S. PARK

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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)

October 25, 1991
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AIRPORT DRUG BUST SETS RECORD 40 POUNDS OF HEROIN SEIZED

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, August 24, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A03

Customs agents arrested two sisters arriving at Newark Airport from Sweden on Thursday with about 40 pounds of heroin, worth $18 million on the street, authorities said Friday.
“This is the largest heroin seizure at Newark International Airport,” said Robert Van Etten, special agent in charge for the U.S. Customs Service.
The previous largest shipment seized at the airport was 11.7 pounds on Oct. 11, 1990, Van Etten said. “As the number of international flights at Newark Airport increases, U.S. Customs has seen an increase in narcotics smuggling at Newark,” he added.
Judy Merle Corbin, 42, of Atlanta and her sister, Sandra Sue Corbin, 41, of Kansas City, Mo., were arrested about 6:30 p.m. Thursday in possession of a suitcase and roller bag that had secret compartments and false bottoms filled with heroin, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Ana T. Escobar.
Van Etten said the women were couriers for a Nigerian heroin-smuggling organization. The organization shipped the heroin from Thailand to Sweden, then employed the women to bring it into the United States, he said.
Van Etten declined to disclose what led Customs to the women or the circumstances of the arrest. He did say that the women had lengthy criminal records.
They were charged with importing heroin and were being held without bail in the custody of U.S. marshals, Escobar said.

Keywords: NEWARK; AVIATION; DRUG; CRIME; RECORD

ID: 17353367 | Copyright © 1991, The Record (New Jersey)

August 24, 1991
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