Teen Pilot Survives Fiery NJ Plane Crash

A student pilot on a solo flight escaped serious injury Sunday afternoon when his plane caught fire after veering off the runway while landing at Old Bridge Airport, police said.

The student pilot, who is 18, had just touched down at about 4:30 p.m., when the plane left the runway, Old Bridge Police Capt. Joseph Mandola said. He did not publicize the pilot’s name.

“He wasn’t ejected from the plane. He got out of the plane under his own power,” said Mandola. “He’s lucky because he got out of the plane and it was completely engulfed.”

The young aviator suffered bumps and scratches, but was not seriously hurt, said Mandola, adding that he was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick for observation.

The plane, a single-engine Cessna Skyhawk II that seats four, was destroyed by the fire, Mandola said. The New Jersey State Police was notified of the crash, and Old Bridge Police detectives took photos of the wreckage to provide to the Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA), Mandola said.

Old Bridge Airport is a privately owned airstrip on Pension Road in the southern corner of the Middlesex County township, adjacent to the Old Bridge Township Raceway Park motorsports complex.

Mandola said the student was being coached by an instructor on the ground with airport’s one flight school. The one school listed for the airport is Old Bridge Flight School. The school did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.

The school’s home page includes a photo of a young child in an old-fashioned leather flight helmet and goggles, with the motto, “Live the dream: Learn to fly.”

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