She said Robertson was not on the plane and rents it out because he uses it infrequently. The company has a leasing agreement with International Jet Charter of Norfolk, Va., which chartered the plane today, Vasko said.

Mark Ousley, International Jet's sales and marketing director, declined comment.

Coast Guard officials said the chartered, twin-engine Learjet 35 took off from Norfolk, Va., about 12:30 p.m. Friday and stopped in Atlantic City, N.J., to drop off two passengers before heading to Connecticut. Police said the cause of the crash, reported about 2:30 p.m., was unknown.

Rachel Waszkelewicz said she heard the crash and ran out of her house and onto her dock, but it was too foggy to see, so she called out to a group of lobstermen.

"Everybody jumped in their boats," she said. "You could hear voices. I don't know if it was from the plane or if it was boaters yelling to them."

Dick Sawyer, who lives in the neighborhood, said, "You could barely see past your hand at the time." Five minutes later, he said, the fog lifted just enough to reveal the jet in the water.

-- The Associated Press