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Ramapo Police Chief Brad R. Weidel gave an award to pilot Yaakov (Jack) Yosef Rosenberg on Wednesday, for his bravery by averting a disaster last year, when he purposely landed his stalled plane in an empty soccer field in order to avoid hitting children on the ground.

As YWN had reported at the time, the Cessna 172 was occupied by two people – one of them Rosenberg – who were on a routine patrol of the Hudson River as part of a U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary mission. Auxiliary members are volunteers working on behalf of the Coast Guard. The pilots were surveying the Hudson River when they encountered problems with the plane.

In an interview in September of last year, Rosenberg said there was no sign of trouble before the Cessna suddenly lost power.

They initially were going to try to land in the river, according to air traffic control radio traffic, but then tried to make it to Teterboro Airport before coming down at Regan Field behind the Cresskill Swim Club.

“If I could have landed on the big field over there, I could have made a perfect landing. Walk away,” he said in an interview with Eyewitness News reporter Marcus Solis.

The field was filled with children playing soccer. Rosenberg said he even tried to yell and wave for the children to move out of the plane’s path. He and his co-pilot veered to another open field hit the ground hard, skidded and came to rest against trees. Officials have said the decision to change course undoubtedly saved lives.

“If I would have killed any kids saving myself, I would have said, ‘God, please reverse it. Take me instead,'” Rosenberg explained.

Yaakov Rosenberg is a longtime volunteer of Chaverim of Rockland, and a member of the Chesed Shel Emmes Organization. He underwent major surgery for injuries sustained at the time, and Boruch Hashem has been recovering.

(Chaim Shapiro – YWN)