September 27, 10 a.m. ET, Launch
Last week the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector who gave Luis Morales--the pilot of the 10-seat Cessna 402-B that crashed and killed Aaliyah and seven others on August 25, 2001--his final flight checkout committed suicide. The name of the FAA inspector was withheld by the FAA, which also declined to release any additional information about his death. And in another twist, Gilbert Chacon, the owner of Blackhawk International Airways, has filed a complaint against the deceased pilot with the FAA. Chacon's attorney Mike Moulis told the FAA, "Morales inappropriately logged hundreds of hours as pilot in command, when it was questionable whether he was even a pilot on the flights." Moulis pointed to the fact that Morales's logbook went from 580 hours of flying time on one page to 1,580 hours on the next page.
Gabriel Penagaricano, an attorney for the Morales family, defended the pilot, "These wild allegations are only trying to deflect the blame, which falls squarely on the shoulders of the aircraft owner. Mr. Morales is not here to defend himself." In addition, Penagaricano pointed out that, under the charter license, only Chacon was authorized to fly the plane.
The investigation is still ongoing, but according to investigators the two leading causes of the crash are the fact that the plane was overweight due to the additional equipment--which the passengers insisted on loading on board despite the objections of the pilot--and the fact that the plane was unbalanced because Aaliyah's 300-pound bodyguard and another man were seated in the rear.
-- Yves Salomon, New York