Plane crash fatal

STEELES TAVERN — A single-engine airplane registered to a company owned by a Florida restaurant mogul crashed Sunday morning in a Rockbridge County field killing all onboard.

Federal aviation officials declined to identify the pilot or to say how many were onboard, but Jordan Dorsch, son of former restaurant mogul Daniel Dorsch, told the Roanoke Times that his father and mother, Cyndie, 55, had failed to arrive home Sunday as expected from a trip to New York.

The crashed plane was registered to Nicholas, Elliott & Jordan LLC, a Tampa company headed by Daniel Dorsch, 56, according to Florida records. Dorsch is listed in federal records as a private pilot who was issued his license in September 2007.

Dorsch was the CEO of Checker’s Drive-In Restaurants, a Tampa-based chain of almost 800 drive-in restaurants. He is widely credited with turning around the chain, which was deeply in debt when he took over in 1999. He left Checker’s less than four years later.

Dorsch’s son said he had been unable to contact his parents. The plane registered to his father’s company traveled June 30 from Tampa to Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, and was making the return trip to Tampa Executive Airport, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters said.

The pilot of the plane reported losing an exterior panel shortly before the aircraft hit the ground, Peters said.

The aircraft, a Pilatus PC-12 used mostly for corporate travel, went down just after 10 a.m. on the McCormick Farm just across the Augusta County line. The farm is owned by Virginia Tech. The pilot was registered in the United States, authorities said. They declined to elaborate.

The aircraft had climbed to 32,000 feet from 26,000 feet before dropping off radar, said Todd Gunther of the National Transportation Safety Board’s aviation safety office.

“After the pilot reported losing the panel, he was going to Lynchburg Regional Airport,” Peters said.

The crash scattered debris 100 yards long and 300 yards wide, state police Sgt. R.J. Carpentieri said.

An NTSB investigation of the crash could last a week, officials said.

Gunther said NTSB investigators were looking at the Pilatus PC-12’s performance, a possible mechanical malfunction, the pilot’s physical condition, the weather at the time of the crash and air traffic.

The Pilatus PC-12 is manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft, a Swiss company.

That model primarily has been used for corporate flying since it was developed in the early 1990s. It is a low-wing aircraft that can reach a maximum cruising speed of 322 mph.

Earlier this year media and NTSB reports say a Pilatus PC-12 crashed on approach to an airport in Butte, Mont., killing all 14 passengers.

As of last month, the NTSB was still investigating the cause of that crash.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Pilatus PC-12

MANUFACTURER: Pilatus Aircraft, a Swiss company in business since 1939

HEIGHT: 14 feet (with landing gear down)

LENGTH: 47 feet, 3 inches

WINGSPAN: 53 feet, 4 inches

PASSENGER CABIN: 330-cubic feet

CAPACITY: 9 passengers

ENGINE: A single Pratt &Whitney Canada PT6A-67P

TAKEOFF POWER: 1,200 shp (flat-rated)

MAXIMUM RANGE: 1,560 nautical miles (with 3 passengers)

MAXIMUM CRUISING SPEED: 322 miles per hour

MAXIMUM ALTITUDE: 30,000 feet

SOURCE: http://WWW.PILATUS-AIRCRAFT.COM