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2 People Dead In Single-Engine Plane Crash In Dade City

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The pilot, Paul Lopez, was a nationally known stunt pilot. Videos of his flying are widely available on the Internet.

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By LAURA KINSLER | The Tampa Tribune
and KEVIN WIATROWSKI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 9, 2009

Updated:

DADE CITY - A nationally known aerobatics pilot was one of two people killed Monday in a single-engine plane crash near Enterprise Road and Old Lakeland Highway.

The crash happened in an orange grove, according to Pasco County Sheriff's Office deputies, who received a call about the crash at 12:21 p.m. Monday.

The plane took off from Zephyrhills Municipal Airport shortly after noon.

Airport officials said the MX-2 aerobatic plane was owned by Paul Lopez, 40, who took off from the airport with a passenger a few minutes before the crash was reported.

"He just fueled up here and took off," said Nancy Morin, an assistant at the airport, who sobbed on the phone when she learned Lopez's plane had gone down.

Morin said airport officials later confirmed the plane was Lopez's.

The National Transportation Safety Board plans to issue a preliminary report on the crash in about 10 days. The report will be based on an investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration, said Jeff Kennedy, deputy director of the NTSB's Miami office.

Lopez lived in an apartment at the airport and had an office there. He owned Aerobatic Activities Inc. and was licensed for commercial and single-engine planes.

He was a nationally known stunt pilot and recently launched an Internet radio show called "Smoke On Aerobatics." Videos of his flying are widely available on the Internet.

"He was very passionate about aviation, and he loved being in the sky," fellow pilot Larry Fletcher said.

Lopez routinely practiced his maneuvers over the orange groves, and neighbors had grown accustomed to the spectacle. He had been competing for more than a decade and worked his way up to the unlimited category, the highest level of competition. He was scheduled to fly next month in Lakeland's Sun 'n Fun Fly-In festival, the second-largest civilian air show in the nation.

"My kids are going to be upset," nearby resident Brent Westberry said. The children like to lie "on the trampoline and watch him."

Nadine Sheehan of Zephyrhills went to buy strawberries from a grower and witnessed the accident.

"He did two loop-de-loops then leveled off," Sheehan said. "Then he went straight up in the air, over the cloud and came back down. He started spinning and went straight down. The plane just burst into flames. They didn't have a chance."

Neighbor Larry Englert said Lopez routinely practiced the same spin and dive maneuver, which requires the pilot to reduce power. Englert said it sounded like Lopez cut the engine and then couldn't restart.

Authorities have not released the name of the second victim, but Lopez alluded to the guest Sunday when he updated his Facebook page. He wrote that he was "practicing and getting ready for a special guest to come from CA. Imagine Tango Charlie."

Lopez was born and raised in Southern California. He fell in love with aviation as a boy. When he got a little older, he took a job at Van Nuys airport washing airplanes in exchange for flying lessons.

The crash is not far from the site of last week's CSX train derailment.

"This is getting to be a busy road," Westberry said.

NTSB records show there have been nine airplane crashes in Pasco County in the last five years, not including Monday's. Four of those were fatalities.

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