They were the only people aboard the Cessna 172, a four-seat, fixed-wing propeller plane, said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Holly Baker.
The single-engine plane went down around noon near a residential, wooded area in the Passaic County community of West Milford.
The pilot, 61-year-old Arthur Leidenfrost of Park Ridge, was pronounced dead there. His passenger, 49-year-old Steven I. Goldstein of Hawthorne, was flown via helicopter to Morristown Memorial Hospital, but details on his condition were not available early Saturday night.
It was not clear what caused the crash, which occurred near the Greenwood Lake Airport in West Milford. Authorities believe the plane had departed from Orange County Airport in Montgomery, N.Y. earlier in the day.
