Pilot In Fatal New Jersey Crash Traveled From Leesburg Airport

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — A pilot who died Tuesday in a plane crash was traveling from Leesburg Executive Airport when his single-engine Cessna crashed into a New Jersey home. The plane was traveling to Linden Airport in New Jersey when it crashed into the back of a home at 84 Berkley Ave. in Colonia, New Jersey at 11 a.m., the same time it was supposed to land, according to the FAA.

Linden Airport Manager Paul Dudley told nj.com and other media sources that Michael Schloss, 74, a retired cardiologist and accomplished aviator, was the pilot in the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board confirmed the pilot's death.

After the Cessna 414 crashed into the back of a home. it caught fire and, within minutes, flames spread to homes on both sides of the crash site, Woodbridge police told Patch. The plane's fuselage, or main body of the aircraft, remained completely inside the home for hours, Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac said in a somber press conference at the scene.

The plane took off in Virginia and was headed to an airport less than five miles away from the crash site, McCormac said. Linden Airport reported "a sharp drop in visibility" right before the crash.

Registration records show the plane was owned by Warbird Associates, which has a Wilmington, Delaware mailing address.

Patch staffers Carly Baldwin and Katie Kausch contributed to this report.

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