Plane Makes Emergency Landing at Robert Moses State Park

A small plane made an emergency landing just outside of Field 5 at Robert Moses State Park this morning at around 9 a.m., police said.

According to Newsday, New York State Parks Police said the small single-engine plane did not crash into the beach and photographs showed the plan resting on the side of the Robert Moses State Parkway.

The pilot, Boas Eidelberg, a 69-year-old Smithtown resident, told Newsday he had rented the Cessna 172R from Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma and had been flying for 45 minutes when he experienced engine issues.

Two attempts to land the plane at Robert Moses were scraped before the third try brought Eidelberg safely to the ground and to the side of the Robert Moses State Parkway.

He told Newsday he was not scared, but "you get nervous absolutely."

George Gorman,  deputy regional director of the New York State Parks Long Island, said the incident was under investigation and officials want the plane to be dismantled.

Police said there were no apparent injuries associated with the landing.

Earlier this year, a similar incident occurred along the Babylon Village-West Islip border when a small aircraft lost its propellers and a pilot glided his plane safely onto Route 231 below.

No one was injured during that emergency landing either.