/jcreiterlaw.com/Jonathan C. Reiter/ 06/05/2013
A single engine plane crashed shortly after take- off at Linden Airport, in New Jersey, killing the flight instructor and critically inuring the student pilot. The flight had taken off at approximately 1 p.m. on Friday, May 31, 2013, and crashed shortly afterwards, into a stretch of railroad tracks located close to the airport. Linden Airport is a small airport several miles south of Newark International Airport and is the site of numerous training flights. The plane was a single engine Diamond, equipped with dual controls. The doomed plane was registered in Denville, New Jersey, and operated by Best in Flight, a flight training company. The flight instructor was identified as Craig McCallum, 58 years old who was removed via ambulance from the crash site, and transported to Robert Woods Johnson University Hospital where he was declared dead. The student pilot was listed in critical condition at the same hospital and expected to survive. The initial investigation revealed that the plane exhibited difficulties immediately upon take-off and barely reached the level of nearby housetops, before it sputtered and crashed nose-first. It was not clear whether the student pilot or the flight instructor was piloting this plane. However, this type of aircraft is equipped with dual flight controls so that the flight instructor can pilot the plane at any time during flight. The National Safety and Transportation Board (“NTSB”) were on the scene following the accident and were conducting an investigation of the cause of this crash.