Atlantic City Police Officer, Wife Lost

An experimental Harmon F1 Rocket was lost Friday evening in Southern New Jersey taking the lives of a local couple who were aboard.

The aircraft took off at the Woodbine Municipal Airport in Belleplain, NJ and remained in the area for around an hour. According to witnesses aircraft lost altitude over the airport at 1935 local time and impacted a street in front of the fire department.

Pilot Dennis McGurk Jr., 37, and his wife, Oksana McGurk, 34, were identified as the victims lost in the crash. McGurk was an Atlantic City Police Officer and had only purchased the aircraft several months prior.

Though the Harmon Rocket (type shown below) is an aerobatic aircraft, State Police spokesman Sgt. Julian Castellanos, would not speculate on whether McGurk was practicing aerobatic maneuvers prior to the crash.

"We don't know what he was doing at the time of the accident," Castellanos said. "The FAA will be working to determine that."

The impact downed electrical wires in the area and service was out until 0500 Saturday morning.

Initial reports indicated the aircraft may have been involved in a mid-air collision based on radio communications, but police later confirmed the Rocket was the only aircraft involved.

Eyewitness Arletta Creamer confirmed the report. "Believe me, he came straight down and he never attempted to recover. There was definitely no another plane involved."

Fire departments from Belleplain, Woodbine and Tuckahoe as well as the NJ Forest Fire Service and Belleplain Emergency Corps responded to the scene.

The crash is under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration and the state Department of Transportation's Division of Aeronautics.

IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 623BL        Make/Model: EXP       Description: F1 ROCKET
  Date: 06/21/2008     Time: 0000

  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: Fatal     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Destroyed

LOCATION
  City: BELLEPLAIN   State: NJ   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
  AIRCRAFT CRASHED UNDER UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES, THE TWO PERSONS ON BOARD WERE
  FATALLY INJURED, BELLEPLAIN, NJ

INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   2
                 # Crew:   2     Fat:   2     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Pass:   0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   

WEATHER: NOT REPORTED

OTHER DATA
  Activity: Unknown      Phase: Unknown      Operation: OTHER

  FAA FSDO: PHILADELPHIA, PA  (EA17)              Entry date: 06/23/2008

FMI: www.faa.gov