EAGLESWOOD — Authorities searched for more than four hours before determining that a report of a possible crash of a manned airplane near the Eagle's Nest Airport was unfounded Wednesday.
The search began some time before 2 p.m., said State Police Lt. Gerald Lewis. A woman went to the State Police Tuckerton barracks on Route 9 to say she saw an airplane falling from the sky while driving in her car, Sgt. Stephen Jones said.
At 6:10 p.m., authorities ended the search after a thorough check of the woods surrounding the airport.
"It was unfounded," Jones said of the report.
Authorities believe that the plane the woman saw may have been a remote-controlled model aircraft which can be very realistic, and to someone in a car may appear to be a manned plane, Jones said.
Diane Kummings, owner of the Eagle's Nest Airport, said the airport was abuzz with police activity.
The airport's fixed-base operator had no knowledge of a plane that failed, Kummings said, but staff worked to determine if the sighting was connected to a group of hobbyists who run remote-controlled planes. She also said those planes seem very realistic.
Kummings said that there is a model airplane group called Balsa Busters that flies remote control planes in the area.
The Federal Aviation Administration released a statement that no planes were reported missing from Ocean County Wednesday.
State troopers, members of the State Police aviation unit and troopers on all-terrain vehicles from the marijuana eradication unit, members of the Ocean County Sheriff's Department, and Stafford police officers also on all-terrain vehicles searched for the downed plane to no avail.
The search Wednesday came less than two months after a plane crash here that killed two people.
In that incident, a couple who called 911 to report the suspected crash May 17 said state troopers were initially reluctant to press the search for the plane.
State Police said they had searched the woods following the initial 911 report for two hours, but were unable to locate any wreckage, likely because of the heavily wooded nature of the area. That search was suspended but reactivated an hour later when a passenger who survived the crash placed a 911 call from inside the plane using a cellular telephone.
Police then dispatched helicopters and contacted emergency personnel from surrounding agencies to assist with the search, and the plane was located.
(Original headline: Plane crash reports are deemed "unfounded" )
