Family on E. Farmingdale crash victim: He lived to fly

The knowledge that Ed Cerverizzo's greatest passion in life was seeing the world from up above gave his family some solace Monday as they made funeral arrangements for the father and grandfather who died over the weekend in a plane crash near Republic Airport.

Cerverizzo, 75, of Garden City, was a passenger in the 1969 Marchetti that crashed Sunday morning shortly after takeoff from the East Farmingdale airport, Suffolk police said.

"This is what my dad lived for," said his daughter, Margaret Brunone, 49, of Island Park, describing how he started taking flying lessons 40 years ago. "Nothing made him happier than flying."

On Sunday morning, Cerverizzo told his wife, Diana, that it was a beautiful day and that he was eager to fly with his buddies. Brunone said it was a Sunday morning routine for the four men to take turns flying together in each other's planes.

"He used to tell me how beautiful everything was from up there," Brunone said.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters said Sunday the pilot had been practicing touch-and-go landings and "indicated no problem" just before the crash. Michael Hughes, director of operations for Farmingdale State College's Aviation Center at Republic Airport, said it's common for experienced pilots to practice those maneuvers to keep skills sharp.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating. Senior air safety investigator Luke Schiada said Monday that the pilot, Gus Halouvas, 55, of North Bellmore, reported having engine trouble. Investigators examined the single-engine plane Monday and will also look into its maintenance history, Schiada said.

The conditions of Halouvas and two other passengers were upgraded, hospital officials said Monday morning.

Halouvas remained in the intensive care unit at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow with spinal injuries, but his condition is improving, spokeswoman Shelley Lotenberg said. He had been upgraded from critical to satisfactory condition, she said.

Passenger William Mancusi, 83, of Brooklyn, has been upgraded to "critical but stable condition" in the intensive care unit of Nassau University Medical Center with facial lacerations, she said.

Another passenger, Charles Bianculli, 61, of Lindenhurst, was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip.

Bianculli was discharged from the emergency department Sunday and transferred to Stony Brook University Medical Center, where he was in stable condition Monday morning, hospital officials said. A man who identified himself as Bianculli's son said his father was unconscious but was expected to make a full recovery.

A wake for Cerverizzo will be held at Krauss Funeral Home in Franklin Square 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday and 2 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday. A funeral Mass will be said Thursday at 10 a.m. at The Church of St. Anne in Garden City, followed by burial at Canarsie Cemetery in Brooklyn.