Skydiving Plane Crashes at Williamstown, NJ, Airport Leaving 14 Hurt
Three people were critically injured and 11 others were hurt when a skydiving plane crashed Wednesday afternoon in Monroe Township in Gloucester County near the Cross Keys Airport, officials said at a press conference Wednesday night.
The Cessna 208B skydiving aircraft, which had 15 people onboard, went down around 5:30 p.m., according to the FAA.
The plane was trying to ascend before it crashed in a wooded area near the airport, said Andrew Halter of the Gloucester County Office of Emergency Management, adding that the pilot reported engine trouble right before the crash.
Officials said they did not know the altitude the plane reached, but Flightradar24 tracker reported the plane got to 3,000 feet.
“The plane did try to circle back and attempt a landing, we are told, but was unsuccessful,” Halter said.
The pilot was trapped inside the plane and needed to be extracted and many people on the plane were covered in fuel and needed to be decontaminated, Halter said.
Injuries ranged from critical to minor, he added. One person refused medical treatment.
Halter said there were a lot of “extremity injuries” but he couldn’t elaborate on the extent of the injuries.
Wendy A. Marano, a spokeswoman for Cooper University Hospital in Camden, said around 8 p.m. that the hospital’s trauma department received three patients who were being evaluated and that multiple others were also being evaluated.
She said she had no information on the exact nature of the injuries.
Three passengers were also taken to Inspira Medical Center in Mantua, Halter said.
The plane is owned by Arne Aviation and operated by Skydive Cross Keys, a skydiving operation based at the privately-owned airport.
A woman who answered the phone at Skydive Cross Keys on Wednesday evening said she could not comment and referred any questions to their email address.
The crash is under investigation by the Monroe Township Police Department, the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office and the FAA.
As of 9 p.m., the plane was still in the wooded area, Halter said.
In September 2023, a single-engine Cessna 150G banner plane crashed in the wooded area west of the airport while attempting to lift a banner. No one was injured.
Chris Sheldon may be reached at [email protected].
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