Plane Briefly Reported To Be Carrying NM Governor

A flight instructor and student were both killed Wednesday morning when their 1999 Piper PA28 Warrior went down in a left bank described by an eyewitness as "a complete perpendicular position to the earth."

Craig Schulz and student pilot Peter Jesinsky were evidently practicing touch-and-goes at Leesburg (VA) Executive Airport when the mishap occurred, according to Airport Commission Chairman Steve Axeman. The Piper was owned by Leesburg's Toth Financial Advisory Corp. and was operated by the Av-Ed Flight School, which offers ground and flight training at the airport.

It "looked like an aerodynamical stall," Axeman told Leesburg 2day. "Instead of doing a nice normal bank, [the plane] continued to bank to a complete perpendicular position to the earth. Why he got in that position, we don't know."

Wednesday's accident is the first ever involving a plane from Av-Ed flight school, according to media reports. The NTSB is now investigating.

The accident received additional attention Wednesday, as it was erroneously reported the aircraft involved was carrying New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, who was flying to Washington DC at the time the Warrior (file photo of type, above) went down.

According to Richardson's office, staffers spent several hours Wednesday morning dispelling rumors of the high-profile politico's death -- attributed to a faulty report on an NTSB internal memo.

IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 4171T        Make/Model: PA28      Description: PA-28 CHEROKEE, ARROW, WARRIOR, ACHER, D
  Date: 11/09/2005     Time: 1414
  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: Fatal     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Substantial
LOCATION
  City: LEESBURG   State: VA   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
ACFT CRASHED UNDER UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES, THE TWO PERSONS ON BOARD WERE
FATALLY INJURED, LEESBURG, VA

INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   2
                 # Crew:   2     Fat:   2     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Pass:   0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
WEATHER: NOT REPORTED

OTHER DATA
Departed:                             Dep Date:    Dep. Time:      
Destination:                          Flt Plan: VFR          Wx Briefing:  
Last Radio Cont:  Last Clearance: 
FAA FSDO: WASHINGTON IAD, DC  (EA27)            Entry date: 11/10/2005

FMI: www.ntsb.gov