Plane's Engine Stopped Working Before Crash: Report

By DANIEL HUBBARD (Patch Staff)

The engine of the plane that crash-landed in Cresskill Sept. 3 temporarily lost power, a preliminary report into the cause of the crash by the National Transportation Safety Board states.

The NTSB is continuing to investigate the accident, The Record reported, but the report confirms a lot of the information pilot Jack Rosenberg provided to authorities.

Rosenberg and Erik Pearson were flying about 2,000 feet above the Hudson River on patrols when the engine lost power, the report states.

Rosenberg, a Coast Guard Auxiliary pilot, broke his legs and received stitches on his face and pins in his foot. He made a split-second decision to avoid landing the plane on an athletic fields with kids on it and opted for the empty field instead, which was farther away.

“If I get killed, one guy gets killed,” Rosenberg said.