Emergency touchdown

Plane lands safely in field.

By: Jessica Beym
   A single-engine plane was forced to make an emergency landing in an empty field off Cranbury Neck Road near Stults Farm on Sunday morning after experiencing mechanical failure.
   The pilot, John Greenemeir, 22, of Columbia, N.J., landed the Cessna 172 safely at 6:20 a.m., police said.
   Neither the pilot nor his passenger, Thomas Donovan, 25, also of Columbia, was injured.
   According to police, the plane departed from the Atlantic City International Airport at 5:40 a.m., heading toward a Sussex County airport. The pilot experienced a mechanical failure around 6:20 a.m., which caused the engine to shut down, police said.
   After searching for a safe landing place, the pilot landed the plane in a field owned by Steven Jany of West Windsor, 1,000 yards north of Cranbury Neck Road. There was no damage to the plane or the field, police said.
   The pilot and his passenger walked out of the plane safely and called 911 for emergency assistance, police said.
   Dispatchers received the coordinates of the plane’s location from the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Cranbury Police were called to the scene at 6:55 a.m.
   After failed attempts to restart the engine, the FAA ordered the plane to be disassembled and removed from the field on a flatbed truck. The FAA is investigating the incident.