‘Grossly negligent’ flight instructor charged in plane crash that killed student pilot

A flight instructor the Federal Aviation Administration deemed too incompetent to continue operating unsupervised, simply ignored the ban and kept teaching students until he eventually killed a trainee in a horrific crash.

That’s according to a federal grand jury indictment unsealed Monday in Allentown, Pennsylvania, federal court, charging Philip Everton McPherson II with involuntary manslaughter over the 2022 incident.

The victim is identified in the indictment as “K.K.,” but was named in contemporaneous news reports as 49-year-old IT consultant Keith Kozel. McPherson has never been IDed as the second person in the plane, until now.

McPherson — who was allegedly such a menace in the air, the indictment says an FAA safety inspector evaluating his skills had to grab the controls mid-flight to avoid disaster — does not have an attorney listed in court records and was unable to be reached for comment.

McPherson, a New Jersey resident, earned his student pilot’s certificate in January 2018, according to the indictment. A little over a year later, McPherson began trying for his full pilot’s license, it says. In December 2019, McPherson finally qualified for his commercial pilot’s certification, with an instrument rating, “[a]fter multiple failed practical exams,” the indictment goes on. In March 2020, McPherson was awarded his flight instructor certificate.

Things soon took a turn for the terrifying. On two separate occasions, while in the air with student pilots in November 2020 and March 2021, the feds say McPherson veered off the runway while attempting to land, avoiding serious injuries but leaving the plane “substantially damaged.”

“Following these accidents, the FAA received a Safety Hotline complaint concerning McPherson,” the indictment continues. “Based on this investigation, the [inspector] concluded that the FAA had reason to question defendant McPherson’s ‘competence as a certificated airman’ and that ‘reexamination of [his] qualification to be the holder of an airman certificate is necessary in the interest of safety.”

The FAA contacted McPherson by mail and requested he appear in May 2021 for a reexamination. He did not respond, according to the indictment. In July, the FAA “began calling” McPherson about taking the retest, but it took months for him to appear, the indictment states.

“During this time, McPherson continued to fly and instruct students,” the indictment states.

On Sept. 29, 2021, McPherson finally underwent his FAA reexamination, which apparently did not go well.

“Defendant McPherson failed the go-around portion of his reexamination,” the indictment says, referring to an aborted landing that forces the pilot to once again take to the air. “In fact, the [safety inspector] had to assume control of the aircraft that McPherson was flying or the plane could have crashed.”

The inspector explained to McPherson why he had failed the test, and told McPherson he could schedule a second reexamination to try again. However, McPherson never requested it, and on Oct. 7, 2021, he surrendered his pilot’s license, according to the indictment. He was given a Temporary Airman Certificate, “which permitted MCPHERSON to only fly by himself, or with an instructor,” the indictment says, noting that the physical certificate in fact reads, “PASSENGER CARRYING PROHIBITED.”

On Nov. 8, 2021, McPherson’s restricted temporary license expired, meaning he was not permitted to fly at all, according to the indictment.

Still, McPherson continued apace, as if nothing had changed, giving lessons through a now-defunct Pennsylvania flight school called Proflite Aero LLC until “at least” Sept. 28, 2022, the indictment says.

That afternoon, McPherson took off from Allentown’s Queen City Airport in a Piper PA-28, with Kozel in the second seat, according to the indictment. Shortly after takeoff, the airplane crashed in a yard about a mile-and-a-half away, narrowly missing a home, WPVI reported at the time.

According to the NTSB, two weeks later a witness managed to pull McPherson out of the plane but was unable to drag Kozel to safety before the cabin was overcome by flames. No cause for the crash was revealed in the report.

“Due to [the] severity of the crash, Lehigh County Coroner Daniel Buglio said visual identification of the man in the plane is not possible, and the coroner’s office will use dental x-rays to identify him,” LehighValleyLive.com reported on Sept. 29, 2022.

McPherson, the indictment charges, “acted without malice but with gross negligence” by taking Kozel up for his final flying lesson.

“But for McPherson’s intentional and grossly negligent disregard for the safety of K.K., knowing he was not competent to safely fly the aircraft as the pilot in command since he had never mastered the skills necessary to safely operate the aircraft, K.K. would not have died,” the indictment states.

In addition to one count of involuntary manslaughter, McPherson is also facing 40 additional counts of serving as an airman without a certificate, for additional training flights he piloted while unlicensed.

If convicted, McPherson faces a maximum of 128 years in prison and a $10 million fine.