A frost delay on Sunday at Paramus Golf Course in New Jersey was a blessing in disguise for golfers as a small plane was forced to make an emergency landing on the ninth hole at around 12:15 p.m.
Jonas De Leon, a Manhattan school teacher, was flying a Mooney M20 aircraft from Lincoln Park Airport to Poughkeepsie, New York, but the pilot reported engine problems shortly after taking off.
Pro shop worker Ron Dorell noticed the plane circling the course, but lost sight of the aircraft after it crested a hill. When the plane made its emergency landing, passers-by on the roadway near the ninth tee reported the downed plane to the clubhouse.
“There’s a lot of open space on the golf course,” Dorell told The New York Times. “Normally we are packed on a weekend. But luckily, because of the frost, we didn’t have anyone out there on the back nine, so none of our golfers were injured.”
A small plane made an emergency landing on a golf course in New Jersey. The pilot? A Manhattan schoolteacher. https://t.co/9bZIDPBqMT
— NYT Metro (@NYTMetro) December 10, 2018
Dorell said only about 18 golfers were on the course at the time of the emergency landing with the first groups going out around noon, meaning no golfers were anywhere near the landing site.
While the golfers on the course were unharmed, three of the four passengers on the plane received minor injuries, Sgt. Michael Pollaro of the Paramus Police Department said.
The Federal Aviation Association is investigating the incident.
