MIAMI – A South Florida flight school is closing down after two of its small planes crashed over the Florida Everglades, killing four people.
The Miami Herald reports that Dean International owner Robert Dean informed students and staff Monday during a memorial for 22-year-old Jorge Sanchez, 72-year-old Ralph Knight, 19-year-old Nisha Sejwal and 22-year-old Carlo Zanetti Scarpati.
Recommended Videos
Officials say a Piper PA-34 and a Cessna 172 collided in the air last Tuesday and went down about 9 miles west of Miami Executive Airport.
Dean International's lawyers and owners conferred Sunday and decided to shut down and liquidate the company, Dean announced..
“We were planning on downsizing a little bit, and this took place, and there was just no way. We can’t live with ourselves to know that this took place,” Dean told WPLG-TV.
However, Dean maintained that Tuesday's crash was not the company's fault and that the planes were working properly at the time of the crash.
"There was no maintenance issue. Everything was OK with these planes. They didn't see each other. ... It just happened," Dean told the television station.
Records show the school's planes were involved in five accidents from 2007-2017, resulting in two deaths. Federal Aviation Administration records show the flight school had 26 accident/incident reports since 2007.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the cause of last week's crash.