A 70-year-old man went looking for a downed model airplane in the woods near Cedar Creek Park's aerodrome field in Seaford on Friday afternoon and ended up needing a helicopter to get out. The man entered the wooded area near the field at 2:06 p.m. and soon found himself unable to find his way back through the dense brush, according to police.
Nassau County Police Seventh Precinct officers responded to the scene along with the department's Emergency Service Unit and Aviation Unit, as reported by Daily Voice. The man was conscious and alert before being airlifted, per Nassau County Police. Nassau County Aviation ultimately airlifted him to a nearby hospital, and the NYPD Aviation Unit assisted crews in extricating him from the woods. He was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment and evaluation, per the same account.
A Historic Field Ringed by Dense Terrain
The area where the man got turned around sits at the southernmost edge of Cedar Creek Park, a 259-acre county park along Merrick Road that Nassau County established in 1975. The model aircraft field there, known as Lufbery Aerodrome, features two intersecting 400-foot paved runways surrounded by woods, thick brush, and tidal wetland terrain, according to the Lufbery Flyers Radio Control Club. That dual-runway layout lets pilots take off and land regardless of wind direction, but it also means downed aircraft can end up deep in vegetation bordering the marshland.
The field carries real historical weight. It was renamed Lufbery Aerodrome in 2010 to honor Major Raoul Lufbery, a World War I flying ace credited with 17 official aerial victories who served with the French Lafayette Escadrille and the U.S. Army Air Service before he was killed in action in France in 1918, according to the Lufbery Flyers club's field history. The Town of Hempstead later designated the site a historic landmark in August 2021, installing a permanent marker noting its origins as a World War I training airfield, per the Wantagh Preservation Society.
Strict Rules Govern Who Can Fly There
Lufbery Aerodrome also holds federal significance for the hobby aviation community. In August 2023, the Federal Aviation Administration designated it an FAA-Recognized Identification Area, letting radio-controlled aircraft operators fly there without built-in Remote ID broadcast equipment. Flying at the field otherwise requires an active Academy of Model Aeronautics membership, FAA registration, and a Nassau County permit, which costs $20 a year for county residents and $46 for non-residents, according to the club's field information page.
It isn't clear from available information whether the man who got lost Friday was a registered Lufbery Flyers member or simply attempting to retrieve his aircraft on his own. What is clear is that Cedar Creek Park's remote southern edge, bordered by South Shore marshland and a municipal wastewater treatment plant, has posed challenges for emergency crews before.
Not the Park's First Major Police Response
The park has seen a string of significant incidents in recent years. In August 2022, an arson fire in a rear parking lot destroyed 10 out-of-service Nassau Inter-County Express buses, a case that led to the arrest of a teenager on multiple arson charges that October, according to Newsday. More recently, Hoodline reported on a Seaford softball game bat brawl in which a dispute during a recreational game escalated into a metal-bat assault that hospitalized a 34-year-old player and led to weapons charges, with Seventh Precinct officers again responding.
Nassau County has also poured resources into the park more broadly, investing over $2.5 million in infrastructure upgrades between 2018 and 2022 that targeted sports fields, picnic areas, and playgrounds, according to 516 Update. That investment coincided with a 35% jump in total park visitor usage over five years, per the same outlet. Friday's rescue is the latest reminder that even a well-used, well-funded county park can turn treacherous once someone steps off the paved paths and into the brush surrounding its wilder corners.
