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Student Dreamed Of Being A Pilot

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By RONNIE BLAIR and TODD LESKANIC

rblair@tampatrib.com tleskanic@tampatrib.com

Published: March 11, 2009

ZEPHYRHILLS - Richard Seufzer posted a note at Zephyrhills Municipal Airport last year asking for help with his senior project.

Aerobatics pilot Paul Lopez responded.

Lopez's decision to answer had Seufzer moving ever closer to his dream of becoming a pilot. Besides working on the senior project with Seufzer, Lopez was helping his protege earn his pilot's license.

The 40-year-old veteran aviator arranged a private tour of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the school Seufzer hoped to attend in the fall. Seufzer, a 17-year-old student at Zephyrhills High School, spent weekends at the airport washing and waxing Lopez's airplane.

"All he could talk about was flying with Paul," said Seufzer's father, Greg. "Paul, to him, was larger than life."

Lopez and Seufzer died Monday when Lopez's single-engine MX2 aerobatic plane crashed in an orange grove near Dade City. The flight was to be the last before the completion of Seufzer's senior project, his father said Tuesday.

Greg Seufzer, a local business owner, said he made it a point to meet Lopez and check his piloting record before agreeing to allow his son to fly with him. What he found out impressed him: Lopez was a nationally respected aerobatics pilot whose work could be seen in videos across the Internet.

"I think Richard was probably in more danger driving to the airport, in all honesty," Seufzer said. "I worried about that more than anything.

"Paul did a lot for Richie and made his dreams come true for him."

Teachers and students at Zephyrhills High have been dealing with the loss. Administrators postponed the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test until today, and a school district crisis team was on hand to offer counseling to students or staff members.

"We wanted to give everybody a chance to catch their breath," Principal Gerri Painter said.

She said Seufzer worked in the school's front office during first period, greeting the public and answering the telephone. He also was on the school's swim team.

"He was one of the most personable young men you'd ever want to meet," Painter said. "He was just a special person. He always had a smile. He always had a hello. He loved to tease and he didn't mind being teased in return."

The plane crashed a few minutes after taking off from Zephyrhills Municipal Airport. The cause remains under investigation, and the National Transportation Safety Board plans to issue a preliminary report in about 10 days.

Lopez was operating under visual flight rules as opposed to instrument flight rules, said NTSB spokeswoman Bridget Serchak.

Federal Aviation Administration investigators are interviewing witnesses but haven't confirmed any radio or air traffic control contact from Lopez before the crash.

Lopez, who lived in an apartment at the airport and had an office there, routinely practiced his maneuvers over the orange groves. He had been competing for more than a decade and was scheduled to fly next month in Lakeland's Sun 'n Fun Fly-In festival.

In a biography on his Web site, www.paullopezairshows.com, Lopez wrote: "Throughout my childhood my father took me to airshows all over Southern California. From that point forward all I wanted to do was fly, and was totally obsessed with airplanes."

News Channel 8 reporter Krista Klaus contributed to this report. Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218. Reporter Todd Leskanic can be reached at (727) 815-1084.

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