Four people are dead after a midair collision between a Piper PA-34 and a Cessna 172 over the Florida Everglades around 1 p.m. local time on Tuesday. The victims have been identified as Jorge A. Sanchez, 22, Ralph Knight, 72, Nisha Sejwal, 19, and Carlos Alfredo Carpati, 22. Neither aircraft had filed a flight plan and there were no emergency communications prior to the crash.
The aircraft were found nine miles west of Miami Executive Airport (TMB) in an area accessible only by boat or helicopter. It has been reported that both aircraft were operated by Dean International flight school and were likely on training flights when the collision occurred. The FAA and NTSB are investigating.
FAA and NTSB records show that Dean International has been involved in at least eight accidents and incidents in the last five years, the most recent of which occurred in May when one of the school’s Cessna 152s entered a spin and collided with terrain, seriously injuring the two people onboard. Tuesday’s midair is the third fatal crash for the flight school since 2013.
