New Jersey jeweler injured as his plane crashes at Greenwood Lake Airport

WEST MILFORD, N.J. — Vatche Aghjayan, a jeweler from Alpine, N.J., crashed his single-engine plane on Saturday at Greenwood Lake Airport after he overshot the runway and rolled down a steep embankment. Aghjayan, 46, was the only person on board the plane; he was transported to Morristown Medical Center, treated and released the same day, according to a report in the Newark Star-Ledger. The crash occurred around 12:40 p.m. at the airport. West Milford, N.J., emergency crews, including police, fire and first aid squads converged on the airport. Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Holly Baker said the plane apparently overshot the runway while trying to land and flipped over. It then rolled down a steep embankment. Rescuers used a tower ladder to lower equipment to the fellow rescue workers who had gone down the embankment at the end of runway 24. The ladder was also used to bring the pilot up to level ground after he was freed. It took rescuers more than two hours to free the pilot, whose plane rolled into a heavily wooded area and turned upside down. Lt. Thomas Celano said rescuers had to take their time because it was unknown whether the plane’s ejection seats were still active. The plane, an Aero Vodochody L39C fixed-wing, single-engine model, took off from Orange County airport in Montgomery, according to Celano. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the crash.