Crime & Safety
Pilot Killed In NJ Plane Crash Was North Jersey Pastor
Rev. Andrew John Topp was killed when the plane he was piloting crashed after taking off from Greenwood Lake Airport.
The pilot who died in the fatal plane crash in West Milford Tuesday has been identified, his daughter confirmed.
The Rev. Andrew John Topp, a father of six of North Haledon, died Tuesday afternoon when the Piper PA 32 plane he was piloting crashed into a heavily wooded area after it took off from Greenwood Lake Airport, his daughter Erica Topp Fischer-Kaslander said.
Topp was pastor of First Reformed Church in Boonton for 20 years. He was also president of the International Humanitarian Aid Foundation, a nonprofit he founded 11 years ago.
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"He was a humanitarian before anything else, and he was a hard-working father for all six of his children," his daughter Fischer-Kaslander said. "He was a neighbor to everyone regardless of how far away he lived. He worked hard, in all aspects of life.”
Topp was testing the plane out for a relief mission to Haiti later on this month. He flew there once a month. His foundation started several orphanages and schools before and after the devastating earthquake there in 2010.
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"He used that plane to deliver hope to others," Fischer-Kaslander. "He died the same way he lived. He loved taking risks that allowed him to serve people."
A National Transportation Safety Board investigator Thursday began the fact-gathering phase of an investigation into the crash, Terry Williams, an NTSB spokesman said. The investigator will examine the plane's engine, wings, and tail, pilot's records, the weather, and the plane's maintenance records.
Fischer-Kaslander said a memorial service is tentatively scheduled for Sunday. She said her father's work serving others inspired her to do to the same with her career.
"He was an amazing father," she said, choking back tears. "We grew up with an ethic of giving and philanthropy in our household. My experience working with him as a teenager made me go into social services.”
Related: 1 Dead In West Milford Plane Crash
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Photo: Andrew John Topp (Courtesy of Erica Topp Fischer-Kaslander)
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