Tue, Jul 07, 2009
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.
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