The Harmon Rocket aircraft went down shortly before 8 p.m. Friday, state police said. Crash debris was scattered in the parking lot of the Belleplain Fire Department and a nearby roadway.
The plane had taken off within the hour from the nearby Woodbine airport, said state police spokesman Sgt. Julian Castellanos. He identified the victims as /*Dennis McGurk*/ Jr., 37, and Oksana McGurk, 34, both of Mays Landing.
"Everything my son did was adventurous," Dorothy McGurk, the officer's mother, told The Star-Ledger of Newark. "He was quite a guy. I can't stop crying about it," she said.
Arletta Creamer, who lives near the crash site, said she and her family were out on their porch and saw the plane spiraling down.
"There was a big ball of fire, and obviously, a horrible sound," she told The Press of Atlantic City.
Belleplain, a village in Dennis Township, is about 30 miles southwest of Atlantic City.
