Poconos businessman, former Air Force pilot identified as victims in plane crash

Authorities have identified the two men killed when a home-built plane crashed in Monroe County.

In a news release, county coroner Thomas Yanac said John H. Parker Jr., 65, of Saylorsburg and Matthew J. Berszoner, 34, of Nazareth, died when the two-seat plane crashed in a swampy wooded area in Hamilton Township.

Parker was a well-established local pilot and well-known retired area businessman, Yanac said. He was a board member for the Monroe County Industrial Development Authority, the Brodhead Creek Regional Authority, Pocono Mountain Industrial Park and Hamilton Township Zoning and Hearing Board.

Glenn Yetter, owner of Saylorsburg Lumber, said Parker was a well-liked and highly regarded man who had retired from business after selling his company, Parker Oil, but remained busy in civic affairs.

Yetter and Parker went to high school together. Parker played on the tennis team.

“He was always happy,” Yetter recalled.

The men stayed in touch over the years and would catch up when they ran into each other at functions.

“I knew him a long time,” Yetter said. “I didn’t know it was him until someone told me this morning.”

Berszoner, originally of the Chicago area, was a former Air Force pilot who flew for United Airlines. He was interested in becoming part-owner of the plane, Yanac said.

The plane took off between 12:30 and 1:30 p.m. Tuesday from Pegasus Airpark, Brodheadsville, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Parker was reported missing to Pennsylvania State Police sometime before 9 p.m. Tuesday. Friends contacted the FAA and a search was initiated. On Wednesday morning, a close friend of Parker’s, Dave Moyer, searching by helicopter, discovered the wreckage on a farm on Neyhart Road.

It is unclear who was piloting the craft when it crashed.

It took hours for emergency workers to retrieve the victims from the swampy, wooded area.

An FAA database said the plane, a Van’s RV-8, was manufactured in 2001. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.