Two pilots die in California crash
January 16, 2007
A twin-engine Cessna Citation charter plane crashed after taking off from Van Nuys airport last Friday, officials said Tuesday. Flying the Sun Quest Executive Air Charter-owned plane was a pilot who had logged more than 37,000 flight hours and a co-pilot whose love of flying had motivated him to switch careers.
Sun Quest Executive Air Charter identified the pilots as Frank Kratzer, who was 72, and Fernando Miguel Fernandez, age 49. The aircraft was headed to Long Beach, Calif., to pick up two passengers who were to travel to Prescott, Ariz.
Federal investigators were trying to determine the cause of the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board has confirmed that the pilot radioed the tower with a request to return and was cleared to land.
A tower controller told officials he noticed the plane "wobble" as it turned before crashing about a half-mile north of the airport and within 100 feet of several homes. Reports from witnesses said that a nose compartment door was open as the plane took off.
Kratzer had been a commercial airline pilot for Western and Delta airlines. He started his own flight training company in the early 1980s, Mobile Flight Training, which became Sun Quest Flight School.
"Frank was one of the most widely respected pilots," Sun Quest spokesman David Burke said. "He helped many people learn to fly."
Prior to pursuing an aviation career, Fernandez was president of a Los Angeles-based technical lighting and electrical design firm that provided services for music and post-production film studios, according to his wife, Maria Wilhelm.
"He loved to fly," Wilhelm said. "He became passionate about the future of aviation, and what we all believe is a new era in aviation. He wanted to be a part of that."
Fernandez had used his own Beechcraft Baron twin-engine to fly medical relief missions to and from Mexico. He had flown for Sun Quest since August, company officials said.
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