Man criminally charged after Pa. plane crash that left student pilot dead
SALISBURY TWP., Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- The pilot-in-command of a plane that crashed in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, leaving a student pilot dead, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter.
Philip McPherson, 36, of Haddon Twp., New Jersey, is also charged with 40 counts of serving as an airman without a certificate.
The plane crash happened on Sept. 28, 2022, in Salisbury Township. The student pilot killed was identified as Keith Kozel, 49, of Easton, Pa.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania released details of an indictment on Monday.
The indictment alleges McPherson crashed the plane one minute after taking off from Queen City Municipal Airport in Allentown.
Prosecutors say McPherson had two prior accidents and nearly had a third accident, and he failed a reexamination for his pilot's certificate for a "lack of demonstrated competence" in 2021.
McPherson had voluntarily surrendered his pilot's certificate in October 2021 and allowed his temporary airman certificate to expire in November 2021, officials say.
The 40 additional charges stem from flights that McPherson conducted between Oct. 12, 2021 and Sept. 20, 2022. McPherson was the pilot-in-command during those flights while not possessing an FAA pilot's certificate permitting him to do so, officials said.
"The indictment alleges that McPherson acted with gross negligence because he knew that he was not competent to safely fly an aircraft as the pilot-in-command," a news release from the office of U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero reads.
Records show flight training school ProFlite Aero Services owned the plane that was involved in the crash.
If convicted, McPherson faces up to 128 years in prison and more than $10 million in fines.
