2 Michigan Pilots, 2 Crashes, 1 Death

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Private aircraft pilots from Michigan were involved in a pair of dramatic, unrelated crashes Thursday and Friday.

The first occurred Thursday afternoon when a single-engine plane piloted by Michael Moir, 68, of Gaylord, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the New Jersey coast as it headed to Atlantic City International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said Friday.

It’s unclear what happened, but the National Transportation Safety Board said the pilot may have had a health emergency. The rescue mission has been called off, The Press of Atlantic City said.

Moir had been a pilot for 40 years.

“I always felt safe flying with him,” Jean Moir, the pilot’s wife, said. “A couple of days ago he went to the airport to see if everything was ready.”

The pilot in the second crash on a section of Wyoming interstate highway was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, the Casper Star-Tribune reports.

Steven Stam, 67, of Holland, crash-landed his single-engine plane about 7:50 a.m. Friday on a hazardous section of Interstate 80 that runs through Telephone Canyon , the Wyoming Highway Patrol said.

According to the Star-Tribune, Stam managed to land the plane without hitting the steep rock walls and forested mountainsides that flank the highway.

Details about Stam’s flight plan were unclear, and it’s unknown why he had to make a crash landing.