Mid-air crash that killed four was nearly head-on, NTSB says

Two private planes that crashed 1,500 feet above the Everglades collided nearly head-on, according to radar analysis of the accident that killed four people, the National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday.

It its preliminary reports, the federal agency said wreckage from the July 17 crash formed a debris field that spanned up to 1,300 feet. Drones were used to find all the pieces of the fallen aircraft.

Killed were Jorge A. Sanchez, 22, of Homestead; Ralph Knight, 72, of Lantana; and Nisha Sejwal, 19, of Miami, who were all pilots.

Flight student Carlo Zanetti Scarpati, 22, of Miami, also died in the crash, Miami-Dade police said.

The planes — a Piper PA-34 and a Cessna 172 — were registered to Dean International, Inc., a 35-year-old flight school, which operated out of Miami Executive Airport, Federal Aviation Administration records show.

The school said Thursday that it is going to close.

Though the NTSB reports say paint had transferred from one plane to the other, and that tire marks from the Cessna were on one of the Piper’s wingtips, an NTSB spokesman said it will not interpret its findings yet.

Analysis of the crash will be described in two or three future reports, the NTSB said.

The crash happened at 1 p.m. on a Tuesday, when wind speeds/gusts were at about 6 mph; visibility was for 10 miles, skies were clear and scattered clouds were 2,000 feet above where they were flying.

Sejwal, of India, was piloting the Piper, according to the report. She held a private pilot certificate and in July, had reported 253 flying hours. She had applied to become a commercial pilot.

Knight was with her, according to Miami-Dade police. A certified airline transport pilot and flight instructor, he was also a designated pilot examiner. As an examiner, he was authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration to do “check rides’ with aspiring flyers as they were about to become certified pilots. He also held a commercial pilot certificate rating for a glider. He had reported 26,000 hours of flying time to authorities.

Their aircraft was destroyed in the crash.

Sanchez was in the Cessna, police said. A commercial pilot who also held a flight instructor certificate, in March he had 311 hours of flying experience. Scarpati was with him, police said. He had recorded 52 hours of flight in his logbook. The Cessna was also destroyed in the accident, and caught fire on the ground.The crash happened in a remote region of the Everglades that is accessible only by air boat or helicopter.

Rescuers traveled to the scene that was south of mile marker 23 on the Tamiami Trail/Southwest 8th Street at 227th Avenue, about nine miles northwest of Miami Executive Airport.