The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — A pilot who logged more than 37,000 flight hours and another whose love of flying prompted him to switch careers were aboard a twin-engine Cessna Citation that crashed after taking off from Van Nuys airport last week, company officials said Tuesday.
Frank Kratzer, 72, and Fernando Miguel Fernandez, 49, were identified by Sun Quest Executive Air Charter, the company that owned the jet that was headed to Long Beach to pick up two passengers on its way to Prescott, Arizona.
Investigators were trying to determine the cause of Friday’s crash. Several witnesses said a nose compartment door was open as the plane took off.
Kratzer had worked as a commercial jet pilot for Western and Delta airlines. He started Mobile Flight Training in the early 1980s, which later become Sun Quest Flight School.
“I would say Frank was one of the most widely respected pilots,” Sun Quest spokesman David Burke said. “He helped many people learn to fly.”
Fernandez, before pursuing a career in aviation, was president of a Los Angeles-based technical lighting and electrical design firm that provided services for music and post-production film studios, said 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, who had used his own Beechcraft Baron twin-engine to fly medical relief missions to and from Mexico, had flown for Sun Quest since August, his wife said.
“He was one of those really easygoing guys who always had something positive to say,” said pilot Russell Watts, 54, who knew both men for years. “It’s unfortunate that the good guys are the ones to go.”
The National Transportation Safety Board has said the pilot radioed the tower with a request to return and was cleared to land.
Burke said the charter company has grounded at least two Citation jets until the crash investigation concludes.