Seeking Unspecified Amount Of Monetary Compensation

The family of a pilot lost in last December's midair collision of a Cessna Skyhawk and a Piper Seminole over the Florida Everglades has filed suit against a flight school that owned one of the accident aircraft.

Edson Jefferson, 30, a private pilot at the controls of the Cessna, was accompanied by an instructor with Pelican Flight Training Center, based at North Perry Airport (HWO). The Associated Press reports Jefferson's family is suing the owner of the Piper, flight school Airline Transport Professionals, based at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL), for an unspecified cash settlement.

Originating from two different airports, the aircraft were operating in concentrated flight training area A-291B in western Broward County when the collision occurred. Flying the Skyhawk, Jefferson was preparing for his instrument rating check ride, while the pilot of the Seminole was receiving training for his multi-engine CFI rating.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board's Preliminary Report, the Cessna was overheard making position reports on 123.45, a CTAF used by aircraft operating in the training area; there were no reports of any radio transmissions heard from the Piper.

As ANN reported, the planes were reported overdue on the evening of Saturday, December 6, and Sunday morning the Broward County Sheriff's Office called in the US Coast Guard to assist in the search.

Hampered by early morning fog, a US Coast Guard helicopter dispatched from Miami spotted the wreckage of the planes just before 9 am Sunday morning in a marshy area about three miles southwest of Everglades Holiday Park. Both aircraft were occupied by a pilot and flight instructor; all four persons perished in the crash.

FMI: www.atpflightschool.com, www.pelican-airways.com, Read the NTSB Preliminary Report