George’s Point of View

Now held responsible for a fatal June 4, 2007 Cessna 550 crash, pilot Capt. William Serra, 59, had apparently falsified training records and had been convicted in 1987 of conspiracy to import Quaaludes when he piloted a plane with 2,100 pounds of the drug from Canada to the USA in 1981. In the 2007 he had been responsible for safety checks; and both he and the other pilot were unfamiliar with the Marlin Air plane, resulting in a crash in Lake Michigan, killing both pilots and four members of a University of Michigan lung transplant team.

The NTSB holds FAA inspectors responsible for allowing Serra to conduct pilot inspections and oversee safety.

Investigators included the NTSB, the FAA, Cessna Aircraft, Marlin Air, Pratt and Whitney and Honeywell.