Prosecutors stated in an unsealed indictment on Monday that a flight instructor charged with involuntary manslaughter for the crash that killed a student pilot in eastern Pennsylvania had turned up his pilot’s certificate following two previous incidents involving students.
The indictment states that on September 28, 2022, the student boarded a single-engine Piper PA-28 that was piloted by Philip Everton McPherson II, 36, of Haddon Township, New Jersey.
According to an NTSB report, he informed the agency that shortly after takeoff, when they had engine issues, he took over pilot duties from the 49-year-old student.
The student, whose only identity was determined by his initials, “K.K.,” perished when the plane crashed and caught fire. McPherson suffered severe injuries.
Federal prosecutors in Philadelphia claim that McPherson was aware of his incapacity to pilot the aircraft for a number of reasons.
First, in two instances that prosecutors described as crashes, he had been teaching pupils at New Jersey’s Central Jersey Regional Airport when their plane drifted off the runway during attempted landings, resulting in significant damage.
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In October 2021, after failing a certification exam, he gave up his pilot’s license. In addition, he faces forty counts of unlawfully operating a plane carrying passengers after that date without a valid pilot’s certificate.
Court records indicate that McPherson entered a not guilty plea to the allegations and was granted bail. The highest possible sentence for the offenses is 128 years in jail.
