Plane Crashes in Rockaway Township

ROCKAWAY, N.J. - A small plane crash landed in a parking lot of a northern New Jersey mall on Tuesday.

The single-engine Cessna 172 took off from Caldwell Airport and later went down near the JC Penney store in the Rockaway Townsquare Mall around noon.

The pilot and passenger suffered minor injuries. No one on the ground was hurt.

The front end of the plane appeared to be damaged. Firefighters sprayed foam on and around the Cessna 172. The plane is registered to Genesis One Inc. in Paramus.

The pilot reported a 'rough running engine' before he made an emergency landing in the lot, the FAA said. Cars were 100 yards or so from the plane's landing location.

"It landed somewhere on the outer perimeter road to the mall. It was nowhere close to the building or cars," said mall spokesman Kevin Ryan.

It's the second time a plane has used the parking lot as a runway, the AP reported. In 1996, two people suffered minor injuries when their single-engine plane ran out of fuel and was forced to land there.

The Rockaway Townsquare Mall is off Route 80 in Morris County.

NJ.COM: PILOT, PASSENGER SURVIVE AS SMALL PLANE CRASH AT ROCKAWAY TOWNSQUARE MALL