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He died learning to fulfill destiny

All Peter Mueller wanted to do was fly. But during a lesson at an aviation camp in Indiana, something went wrong.

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER and SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
Published August 12, 2005

[AP photo]

An Indiana Conservation officer watches the removal of the wreckage of a small plane from Lake Maxinkuckee in Culver, Ind.

	It was Peter Mueller's second year at the aviation camp in Indiana. He was 14 years old.

TAMPA - He was only 14 years old, but Peter Mueller knew his future was in flying.

Peter's father is the director of architecture at Tampa International Airport and loves to fly. Peter's grandfather was a World War II pilot. His mother works for Delta Air Lines at TIA.

An accomplished science student, Peter told his grandmother he wanted to study aeronautical engineering at Purdue University. Friends who knew about the flying lessons he took in Tampa called him a "fearless and confident" young pilot.

For months, Peter looked forward to the two-week summer aviation camp at Culver Academies in Indiana.

"He couldn't wait to get there," said grandmother Viola Rudolph, 81.

Wednesday afternoon, two days into the Culver Academies' camp, Peter died aboard one of the planes he dreamed of some day piloting.

He was inside a single-engine Piper Warrior with his flight instructor when the plane crashed into a lake near the campus shortly after takeoff and sank, according to the Marshall County Sheriff's Office in Indiana.

It took divers from the Culver Fire Department half an hour to pull Peter and the instructor, 21-year-old Brent Bauman of Colorado, from the 6-foot deep water of Lake Maxinkuckee, said Marshall County sheriff's Sgt. Ward Byers.

Peter and Bauman were rushed to a local hospital, where doctors pronounced them dead at 3:52 p.m. Peter's parents, Rudolph and Corinne Mueller, were with him, his grandmother said.

Peter was their only child.

The Muellers used their vacation time to accompany Peter to the Culver Academies' two-week aviation camp, one of several specialty camps offered by the military preparatory school in Culver, Ind.

The $1,300 camp began Aug. 8 with 19 students aged 13 to 17. This was Peter's second year attending.

Doug Haberland, director of publications for Culver Academies, said the flight-training program is operated by instructors who are certified by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The program is based at Fleet Field, which consists of a paved runway and a grass airstrip on the east side of campus. Culver uses four Piper aircraft and a Cessna for the camp, and Fleet Field has its own radio communications system to help aircraft take off and land, Haberland said.

Sgt. Byers said the 1979 Piper Warrior carrying Peter and his instructor had just taken off from the grass strip when it went down into Lake Maxinkuckee. They didn't call in to report engine trouble before the crash, Byers said.

Autopsies were performed Thursday, but the coroner has not yet determined the cause of death for Peter and Bauman, police said.

The Federal Aviation Administration removed the plane from the lake and took it to a hangar to investigate the crash.

All planes have been grounded because of the FAA investigation, Haberland said. Students enrolled in the aviation camp can continue in flight simulators or join other Culver specialty camps.

Wednesday's fatal crash was the first in Culver Academies' history.

At Berkeley Preparatory School, which Peter had attended since kindergarten, teachers and fellow students recalled Peter as a quiet but kind young man. He excelled at science and loved to fly. He dreamed of a career that married the two.

An active science club member, he performed an experiment for the younger students last year when he was an eighth-grader, said communications director Karen Humphrey.

He lit a dollar bill on fire, put out the flames and presented the dollar, intact. The dollar was coated with a chemical that burned while protecting the paper.

"He was a fabulous boy," said Cindy Boss, director of the middle division, which includes grades six, seven and eight.

Peter played baseball and tennis.

"He was a kind, kind kid and had a really good group of friends," Boss said, "He was friends with everyone."

Peter's mother called the school Thursday to tell them about the crash. The school made counselors available to talk students who were in the building for athletics or other activities, Boss said. Counselors will be there again when students return for classes Aug. 29.

Peter's grandmother called her only grandchild "a delight." Her voice broke as she talked about Peter and all the plans he had.

"He was the only one, and now he's gone," said Viola Rudolph, who splits her time between Ohio and New Port Richey. "I just can't believe it happened."

Her only comfort, she said, comes from knowing that Peter died doing what he loved.

"Flying," she said, "was all he knew."

Times staff writer Stephanie Hayes and Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report. Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler can be reached at svansickler@sptimes.com or 813 226-3373.

[Last modified August 12, 2005, 00:46:18]