Three people were treated for minor injuries Sunday when a single-engine plane made an emergency landing on a golf course in Paramus, authorities said.
The three were aboard the Mooney M20 plane when it went down about 12:15 p.m. on the fairway of the ninth hole of the Paramus Golf Course. Police said the injured were two adults and an 11-year-old child. A third adult was not hurt. No one on the ground was injured.
The pilot was identified as Jonas De Leon, a Manhattan teacher who began giving lessons about aviation at Gregorio Luperon High School for Science and Mathematics, according to The New York Times.
De Leon told police he took off from Lincoln Park Airport in Morris County headed to Poughkeepsie, New York.
The plane apparently lost power, forcing the pilot to make the emergency landing, police said. The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the incident.
In an Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association article earlier this year, De Leon described how he introduced aviation to the science curriculum at his high school and convinced fellow teachers to become pilots. He has been a pilot since 1993, according to the article.
Paramus Police Chief Kenneth Ehrenberg said the pilot did a good job making the emergency landing and avoiding people on the ground.
“He landed on the green near the ninth tee box and that’s where he lost a wheel,” Ehrenberg said. “It was literally a perfect landing up to that point.”
Three people were aboard a single-engine plane that landed on the Paramus Golf Course on Sunday, Dec. 9, 2018. (Paramus Police Department)
The Associated Press contributed to this report