Daniel Dorsch Was Returning Home To Tampa

The former CEO of Checkers, a drive-up fast-food restaurant chain, was piloting a Pilatus PC-12 registered to his company on a flight from Teterboro, New Jersey to Tampa when it went down in a field in Virginia, killing all on board. Authorities said the plane experienced a "high energy impact", which left debris mostly just a few inches in size.

File Photo

Also killed were Dorsch's wife Cyndie and her 23-year-old dance instructor Stepan Matkovski of Safety Harbor.  Dorsch had flown his wife and Matkovski  to a New York dance contest where they competed as partners, according to Tina Waisman, one of Matkovski's students. The flight plan filed by Dorsch before departing Teterboro indicated 4 people on board, but authorities have not yet confirmed a fourth person involved in the accident.

The Tampa Tribune reports the plane left Teterboro just before 0830 Sunday, and was diverting around bad weather along the route of flight. They were to have arrived in Tampa about 1230. Tim Monville, a senior air safety investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, said the pilot contacted several air traffic control facilities reporting problems with a "panel" but was not specific about which panel was causing the problems. The plane was flying at about 32,000 feet when radar contact was lost, according to Monville. Witnesses said it crashed into a field owned by Virginia Tech about 10:00. Monville said the plane entered a "steep vertical descent" fractured on impact, and then caught fire. The impact scattered debris some 300 yards. He said the largest piece was about the size of a trash can.

Dorsch held single and multi-engine ratings, as well as an instrument rating. Since leaving Checkers, he had become the CEO of Fun Bike Center Motorsports in Lakeland, Florida.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov