Two people died and a man was critically injured last night when their light plane crashed on takeoff from an airport in northwestern New Jersey.
The four-seat Cessna hit a tree just after it left the runway at Sussex County Airport in Wantage, state police said. The plane then nose-dived and flipped over, instantly killing a man and woman.
A third person on board, a man, was taken by helicopter to a local hospital in critical condition.
The victims’ identities were not immediately available.
The plane crashed at about 7 p.m., an hour after the end of the annual Sussex County Air Show, and officials speculated the victims had flown to the airport to watch it.