By A. SCOTT FERGUSON
Herald & News

Almost two weeks to the day after a plane crash in Newark raised concerns about safety at small, private airports, a six-seat Beechcraft Baron 58 crashed into a residential section of Hasbrouck Heights Thursday night, killing four aboard and injuring three residents who attempted to come to their rescue.

The day after the crash, published reports said the pilot, Paul Andrew Pederson Jr., 37, of Virginia, had his license suspended for 45 days in 1996 after a twin-engine Cessna propeller plan he was piloting crashed near Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

Also killed were Roland "Chip" Brierre III, 41; his wife, Cary Bell Brierre; and Eliane Moses, 35. Reports said the four were traveling from Virginia to a Manhattan dinner party. Officials said it will be some time before they know what caused the plane to crash.

It took only a few hours for Garden State politicians to call for tighter regulations for airplanes landing and departing from Teterboro Airport. They asked the National Transportation Safety Board to study traffic volume at the increasingly busy airport.

According to data from the Federal Aviation Administration, the Teterboro tower handled nearly 224,000 flights last year, compared with 181,000 in 1991. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey spokesman Greg Trevor said between Newark, La Guardia and John F. Kennedy, New Jersey's airspace is the busiest in the world.

The heroes in this disaster came in the form of the Lodi and Hasbrouck Heights fire departments. A recent training exercise is credited with helping firefighters deal with the disaster.

The next day, neighbors around 21 Washington Place, the site of the crash, were still in shock that a disaster like Thursday's could happen. Mixed feelings stemmed from the fact that no one on the ground was seriously hurt.