FLYING Magazine
A New Jersey flight instructor involved in a fatal aircraft accident after he had his pilot certificates revoked for a “lack of demonstrated competence” has been sentenced to six and a half years in prison.
As previously reported by FLYING, 37-year-old Philip Everton McPherson II in 2025 pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and other charges stemming from a 2022 crash that killed a flight student. McPherson pleaded guilty to 43 of the 44 charges he faced in exchange for the U.S. government agreeing to withdraw one count of conspiracy to defraud the FAA. These counts stemmed from serving as an airman without a valid certificate.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office after sentencing June 11, in addition to prison time Eastern District of Pennsylvania United States District Judge John Gallagher handed McPherson three years of supervised release, a $5,000 fine, a $4,300 special assessment, and $19,530 in restitution. Gallagher also barred McPherson from working in the aviation industry.
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McPherson was involved in two nonfatal accidents and voluntarily surrendered his commercial and CFI certificates in October 2021 and was issued a temporary airman certificate good for 30 days that would allow him to obtain dual instruction and solo practice to prepare for a reexamination check ride. He failed the reexamination check ride but continued to teach and fly with passengers while working at ProFlite Aero Services in Easton, Pennsylvania. The temporary certificate expired, and there was no application for an additional certificate or another reexamination ride.
The accident happened on September 28, 2022, when McPherson and 49-year-old Keith Kozel, a private pilot candidate, were flying a Piper PA-28-140 belonging to ProFlite Aero. The indictment notes that Nouman Saleem, the owner of the flight school, was aware that McPherson did not have a valid certificate.
In 2024 Saleem was also indicted and pleaded guilty to conspiracy and obstruction charges, and agreed to pay $101,528 in restitution to the flight students who flew with McPherson.
The Details
According to the original 11-page indictment, in 2021 the FAA received a hotline complaint about McPherson’s alleged poor airmanship that included going off the runway on two different occasions while flying with a student, with both events resulting in substantial damage to the aircraft.
The first event was on November 18, 2020, when, during the second attempt to land a Cessna 172 in a crosswind, reported as 13 knots gusting to 25, the aircraft went off the side of the runway. The nosewheel collapsed, and the aircraft flipped onto its back.
The second event came on March 6, 2021, but a report was not filed in the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) accident files.
The indictment noted the FAA made several attempts to reach McPherson—first by letter, then by telephone—as part of its investigation to set up a reexamination ride. When McPherson finally did the reexamination flight with the agency, he botched a go-around, and the FAA safety inspector had to take the controls to prevent a crash, per the indictment. This resulted in a failure of the check ride.
After surrendering his commercial and CFI tickets, McPherson was granted a temporary certificate that allowed him to fly by himself or with another instructor in order to gain the skills necessary to regain his certifications. The temporary certificate carries this warning: “Carrying of Passengers Prohibited.”
McPherson did not request another reexamination ride, nor did he ask for an extension of the temporary certificate, which expired on November 8, 2021. However, he continued to serve as a flight instructor carrying passengers.
The indictment included two pages with the initials of students and dates of flights with McPherson acting as instructor between October 2021 and September 2022. According to the indictment, McPherson instructed 79 hours, taking approximately $101,527.93 from student pilots. As McPherson lacked a valid certificate, the hours logged became invalid.
The indictment stated McPherson “acted with gross negligence because he knew that he was not competent to safely fly an aircraft as the pilot in command.”
The Accident
On the day of the accident at about 1:40 p.m. EDT McPherson and Kozel were attempting to take off from Allentown Queen City Municipal Airport (KXLL) in Pennsylvania. According to the NTSB report, McPherson had approximately 1,350 hours of experience at the time of the accident, and Kozel had 51. The purpose of the flight was to go to a nearby tower-controlled airport.
McPherson instructed Kozel to perform a soft-field takeoff, but according to the report, “during the takeoff, the airplane had not become airborne by the time (McPherson) felt it should, and he prompted the student to increase the airplane’s pitch attitude, and it became airborne. The student then reduced pitch to remain in ground effect but it settled briefly back onto the runway before reestablishing flight in ground effect.”
In ground effect the airplane flies approximately one wingspan over the runway. This technique is used for soft fields to keep the aircraft from getting stuck in surfaces such as mud or snow. The pilot holds the airplane in ground effect until the airspeed builds, eventually allowing the aircraft to climb out at a safe speed.
“The airplane seemed to take longer to accelerate to its best angle of climb speed (VX), which [McPherson] attributed to the student’s initial slightly high pitch attitude,” the NTSB report stated. “When the airplane reached VX, the instructor assumed control of the airplane and maintained airspeed. He stated that the airplane was laboring in its climb, narrowly cleared the trees off the departure end of the runway, and was unable to climb thereafter. Although the engine was running, it was ‘noticeably weak.’
“The instructor raised the flaps and continued to fly the airplane at VX and was still not able to climb. He noted that the airplane was about 200 feet above the ground and approaching rising terrain. The instructor attempted to locate an area to land but was unable to locate a suitable landing area, and the airplane descended into trees.”
The recorded ADS-B data included in the NTSB report shows the airplane’s track continued approximately 0.8 miles on runway heading, passing over what appear to be athletic fields then making a slight left turn before the track ends. The aircraft came down in trees near homes, where the aircraft caught fire.
The Piper PA-28 has only one door, located on the right side of the cockpit where the CFI usually sits. A homeowner helped McPherson escape, but the fire was too intense to rescue Kozel.
NTSB investigators noted that the fire damage made it difficult to study the aircraft engine components as part of the investigation. However, the agency noted that at the time of the accident the recorded temperature and dew point were conducive to the development of serious icing at glide power and were between the ranges for icing at glide and cruise power and serious icing at cruise power.
The NTSB’s official probable cause for the accident is listed as a “partial loss of engine power for undetermined reasons.”