A year after a plane crash took the life of the owner of Sun Quest Executive Air Charter, a final cause for the incident still has not been determined. Frank Kratzer, a retired airline pilot, and Fernando “Chris” Fernandez were killed Jan. 12 that morning when the twin-engine Cessna Citation they were aboard crashed shortly after take off at Van Nuys Airport. A preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board made no indication pilot error led to the crash. Witnesses to the crash told investigators that they saw dark objects falling from the plane just before it crashed, although a check of the crash site found no “loose objects.” The report also found that “examination of the front left baggage door indicated that the key mechanism was in the unlocked position.” Kratzer and Fernandez were on their way to Long Beach to pick up passengers before continuing to Arizona when the plane crashed.
