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The aircraft went
down off Manhattan's West 79th Street, a few miles (kms) south
of the George Washington Bridge, at around 7:30 p.m., New Jersey
State Police Sergeant Jeff Flynn said.
The New York Police Department said it recovered a body from
inside the plane and believe it was the pilot, but could not
confirm it was the pilot.
Flynn initially said the plane's sole occupant, a male pilot,
was rescued from the river and transported to an area hospital
with minor injuries.
The agency later said on its Twitter account that there were
conflicting reports from the scene and they could no longer
confirm the swimmer in the water was the plane's pilot.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the plane was a vintage
P-47 Thunderbolt and was one of three aircraft that took off
from Republic Airport in Farmingdale, New York.
Flynn said the plane was in the area because of Fleet Week, a
week-long celebration of the U.S. military's seafaring service
members. The other two aircraft safely returned to the airport.
An investigation has been launched into what caused the crash.
A large police and fire department presence was visible at the
makeshift rescue headquarters at the 79th Street Boat Basin,
where diners at a nearby restaurant looked on at the operations.
Roughly a half dozen police and fire rescue boats adorned with
flashing blue lights trawled the river into Friday night as
authorities continued the search.
(Reporting by Toni Reinhold in New York City and Brendan
McDermid; Additional reporting and writing by Curtis Skinner;
Editing by Sandra Maler & Shri Navaratnam)
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