I truly hope that this fatal crash of a Piper Cherokee is no more than an isolated incident but it’s certainly a cautionary tale for pilots and especially for flight schools. What makes it stand out for me is that it involves airports with which I am familiar. The crash took place on departure from the Allentown Queen City airport (KXLL), the destination of my first solo cross-country flight many years ago. It is located in an urban area, adjacent to a busy highway, just west of a large hill topped with towers. It’s a good facility but deserves a pilot’s respect and full attention on arrival and departure.
The flight in question was a training flight, with one big qualification. There was a student pilot on board, along with an “instructor” who happened to have lost his CFI qualification a year earlier. The instructor had experienced multiple runway incursion incidents at Central Jersey Regional Airport (another field with which I am well familiar) which caused aircraft damage and ultimately led to a reexamination of the instructor’s qualifications by the FAA. The reexamination did not go well, as the examiner was forced to take over control of the aircraft to avoid a crash. That’s a failure for the examinee.
Thus, at the time of the flight in question our instructor was not legally qualified to instruct, did not hold a CFI certification, and in fact held no pilot certification at all.
The details can be found here, but the short story is that the aircraft crashed just after takeoff with the instructor at the controls. The student pilot was killed in the crash and subsequent fire. The instructor survived.
I do not have details on any subsequent FAA action against the instructor, nor any litigation that may have been brought by the family of the deceased student. What we do know is that the instructor has pled guilty to criminal manslaughter charges. As in, prison time is a distinct possibility.
And to complete the circle, the flight school that employed the instructor did so knowing that his credentials had been revoked. The owner of the flight school pled guilty to federal criminal charges including obstruction of an administrative proceeding and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
All around it’s a sad and unhappy story with one life ended and at least two other changed for the worse. It was caused by what seems to have been a marginally qualified pilot who was a victim of his own dishonesty in holding himself out as CFI when he was not, and an employer who dishonestly employed him. When hiring employees that require federal certification, always check those credentials thoroughly before hiring. And doing some hands-on evaluation to ensure continued competence is not a bad idea either.
