Kemper Aviation Co-Owner Among Victims In Thursday Crash

The future of one of the busiest flight schools in the US is in doubt after its third fatal crash in less than five months. This time, the victims included the man who was the co-owner and chief instructor of the school, Kemper Aviation, based at Florida's Lantana Airport.

School officials told the Palm Beach Post that Jeff Rozelle was flying a Cessna 172 over Lake Okeechobee Thursday morning with three passengers from Florida Atlantic University, to survey migratory birds for a research project. The wreckage of the plane was found on ranch land in Martin County. There were no survivors.

The NTSB had two investigators on their way to the accident scene Thursday afternoon. Sadly, they've become frequent visitors.

Last October 27, a Kemper plane flown by a veteran flight instructor and a trainee crashed into a golf course west of Boynton Beach. Both pilots died. Another student onboard was critically injured, but recovered, and sued Kemper Aviation, the school's maintenance company and the company that leased the plane to the school, alleging negligence.

A federal investigator found the Piper had an extra washer installed between the fuel filter bowl and its tightening screw, and reported the fuel selector was set to the right wing tank, which contained only about a half-cup of fuel.

Six weeks later, on December 8, a Kemper student was flying a Cessna that collided with a Piper Comanche in a high-traffic training area over the Everglades west of Boca Raton, as ANN reported. Both men died. That crash also remains under investigation.

After the second crash, six then-current and former instructors at students charged the school with shoddy maintenance, and alleged it was a hazardous place to work. But Rozelle, described by a former employee as even-tempered and soft-spoken, insisted the planes were safe, and dismissed the concerns expressed by instructors as the normal questions which follow a tragedy.

The FAA says it is investigating the school's maintenance records. Kemper has been cited just three times over its 18-year history for maintenance problems. The last, in 2000, carried a $1,000 fine.

Rozelle is survived by his wife, Jennifer, who manages the office at the school, and their two children. The family of his partner, Akshay Mohan, who works from India, declined to predict whether the Part 141 school itself could continue.

FMI: www.flight101.com/