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Plane takes nosedive, kills two Pinellas pilots

The men, from St. Petersburg and Clearwater, had just started a trip from Pennsylvania to Utah.

By ABHI RAGHUNATHAN and NICOLE JOHNSON
Published May 12, 2006

For two veteran Pinellas aviators, the cross-country journey in a lightweight plane was just another flight.

Richard Reitz, 59, of St. Petersburg, was a retired Navy officer who could land planes on aircraft carriers. David Hickman, 53, of Clearwater, was an aviation educator with 30 years of cockpit experience.

They planned to fly a kit-built Lancair IV from Somerset County Airport in Pennsylvania to Utah on Wednesday afternoon.

Instead, the plane climbed to about 100 feet, then nosedived into the ground moments after takeoff.

The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating. Crews spent Thursday morning placing pieces of the aircraft onto a flatbed and transporting the wreckage to a hanger for inspection.

"They were killed on impact," Somerset County coroner Wallace Miller said.

Reitz was a former lieutenant commander in the Navy who later became a commercial pilot and a corporate executive. He was vice president of a food services company and later EDS Corp. in Plano, Texas.

"He was a wonderful, wonderful pilot, a wonderful husband, and my best friend," said his wife Bonnie Reitz, 54. "Richard Reitz is the most cautious, expert and disciplined pilot that one could fly with."

Hickman was a Clearwater High School and University of Florida graduate who worked as a general contractor in construction and taught many local amateurs. He earned High Performance Instrument and Commercial Seaplane ratings, became a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association and later chaired the Sebring International Airport Authority.

"He was such an accomplished pilot it couldn't have been a pilot's error," said his longtime friend and fellow pilot Kevin Williams, 54. The Lancair IV plane was built by Jeffrey S. Nulmer of Sherwood, Ore., the FAA said. The plane had recently been worked on at Advanced Composite Tech, a customizing shop near the airport.

Hickman owned and operatedthe same type of plane he crashed in on Wednesday. He was supposed to do most of the flying and Reitz was there to help out if needed.

The small hand-built plane travels about 300 mph. Other small aircrafts go about 125 mph. The FAA classifies any plane built from a kit as experimental, and checks out the air-worthiness of kit-built planes before they are registered.

They took off on Wednesday around 3:17 p.m. The plane rose about 100 feet before it crashed , witnesses told authorities.

The two men were taking the plane to a small airport in Utah about 100 miles from Las Vegas, Hickman's friends said. Hickman was going to conduct a training seminar in Utah. Reitz was heading to Houston to pick up a small plane he owned. He was going to fly it home, his wife said.

Hickman and wife, Kathy Day, had been married for 20 years. They were avid travelers.

Reitz and his wife spent many hours together in cockpits. After retiring to St. Petersburg, he enjoyed volunteering and introducing children to airplanes. He flew relief supplies into Louisiana and Alabama after Hurricane Katrina.

"He just loved flying so much," said Reitz's wife Bonnie. "The good thing is he died doing what he enjoyed."

The Tribune-Democrat of Johnstown, Pa., and Times researcher Carolyn Edds contributed to this report.

[Last modified May 12, 2006, 15:06:23]