Both Were Involved In High School Aviation Program

A weekend accident in Ellis County, Texas has claimed the lives of a Dunbar high school student pilot and his instructor. The plane went down while conducting training maneuvers outside Waxahachie. The flight originated at Dallas Executive Airport, where the program is based.

The student, 15-year-old Eric Schultz, and his instructor Greg Green, were part of a future pilots program offered through the school district.

Television station KTVT in Dallas reports that Shultz's parents said Eric was in his second year of the high school aviation program, and was doing what he loved. "My son wanted to be a pilot. He took this aviation thing real seriously, and I told him if that's what you want to do -- you go out and do it," Eric's father Thurman Schultz told the station. "He learned to fly before he could drive."

His mother said she was concerned that the school would cut the program in light of the accident. She said that's not what her son would have wanted. Fort Worth Independent School District (FWISD) spokesman Clint Bond said the program would be evaluated, but the immediate concern was for the families of Shultz and Green.

Green had been with the program since the beginning of the school year. He was a CFI with 8 years experience. The NTSB and FAA are investigating the crash, and the program has suspended flight operations until after the funerals for the two pilots.

FMI: http://schools.fwisd.org