NEW YORK (JTA) — A Chasidic pilot for the Coast Guard crash-landed his Cessna airplane in New Jersey on Thursday after encountering engine trouble, bringing it down in a recreational field and sustaining serious injuries.

The pilot, Jack Rosenberg, was one of two pilots on the plane, which was doing routine patrols over the Hudson River when its engine apparently failed. Authorities hailed Rosenberg for avoiding injuries on the ground when he crashed in the soccer field in Bergen County. “If you see where they landed on the very edge of the field, my opinion, they did a damn good job of averting a tragedy by getting over there,” an official told NBC.

Rosenberg, a Hasidic father of seven originally from Spring Valley, N.Y., is a member of the auxiliary Coast Guard. He made headlines in 2006 when he petitioned the Coast Guard to make an exception to rules barring the wearing of visible non-military headgear so that he could wear his yarmulke during his volunteer work. After New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind took up Rosenberg’s cause and then-Sen. John Kerry wrote a letter on his behalf, the Coast Guard was eventually persuaded to accommodate him.

Rosenberg broke both legs and was in surgery for over nine hours, according to Hikind. The other pilot, who also was injured, was not identified.