Columbus hotelier was learning to fly during fatal Madison County plane crash
The father of a Columbus man killed while learning to fly in Madison County Wednesday night said his son had a long-standing interest in aviation and sought an out-of-state company for the training.
Athar Mohammad Ashraf, 43, of Columbus' Far North Side, was found in the left seat of the single-engine Cessna 172 Skyhawk cabin, typically the pilot seat, when the plane dipped, clipped a wing and crashed just short of the 4,000-foot runway at Madison County Airport. Malik Aftab Naseem, 60, of Jasper, Alabama, his instructor and the owner of the aircraft, was in the right front or co-pilot spot on the four-seat plane.
A cause of the crash at about 6:20 p.m. has not been determined. The National Transportation Safety Board began investigating Wednesday afternoon why the plane crashed, killing both occupants.
Ashraf was a divorced father of three daughters, 3, 6 and 9, who shared custody with their mother, said his father, Mohammad Ashraf.
Ashraf was living with his parents in Columbus, just north of Worthington. His children are enrolled in the Worthington School District, the elder Ashraf said.
"He was learning to fly, just as a hobby," Ashraf said.
"I was pretty much shocked," he said when authorities called him Tuesday.
On Wednesday, he said, "We're still trying to absorb the shock."
The dual-control plane, if used for training, could have been controlled by either man, both of whom died at the scene, authorities said late Tuesday night. Their bodies were removed by personnel with the Madison County Coroner's Office.
The airport, located just off Route 40 in Madison County, is about three miles north of London and 30 miles west of Columbus. It typically has less than a dozen take-offs and landings a day, with just a handful of landings from out-of-state, said John Duhl, airport manager.
Duhl said the airport would be closed Wednesday and possibly Thursday until the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transport Safety Board complete their investigation.
Ashraf's father said he had met the flight instructor Naseem Malik a few times with his son. "He told me he has a few planes, maybe three of them ... in Florida, Texas and Kentucky.
"He was just getting his business started in Ohio. He brought in one plane and he planned to bring more. He had already rented three hangars," Ashraf said.
Ownership of the 1977 Cessna 172 Skyhawk has been registered to American Flight Line, a Jasper, Alabama corporation, since April 2011, according to Federal Aviation Administration records.
A Dispatch search for American Flight Line with the Alabama Secretary of State's business registery found no records.
Malik owned Ameri Flight School whose website amerifs.com provides his biography, describing him as a graduate of the Army aviation school who "developed a proprietary fast track flight training program that help inspiring aviators to acquire their wing at the least amount of time FORT RUCKER style (Boot Camp) in very safe environment".
The Cessna 172 Skyhawk took off at 5:05 p.m. from Madison County Airport and circled around the area for 73 minutes before crashing, according to flight tracker FlightAware.
On its final, fatal flight, the Cessna reached 138 mph and an altitude of 2,400 feet from takeoff, according to flight tracking data. The plane only surpassed that speed 34 minutes in, reaching a peak speed of 142 mph. The aircraft reached a top altitude of 2,800 feet 53 minutes into the flight, FlightAware data show, and began descending from 2,700 feet 65 minutes into the flight before eventually crashing.
The Cessna had previously been flown last Thursday and Friday from Madison County Airport, but for only 11 minutes and nine minutes, respectively, flight activitiy records on FlightAware show.
The elder Ashraf did not know if his son was aboard those short flights. Duhl said he was unaware of the short flights and could only speculate that they might have been for training purposes.
The last fatal crash at the Madison County Airport occurred in September 2019 when a four-seat, 52-year-old Beechcraft Bonanza flown by Donald Apple, 79, of Piqua, Miami County, plunged to the ground, during a steep banked turn while attempting to land. Pilot error was cited for the fiery, early morning crash.
Ashraf, who moved from Pakistan at age 11 to live with his parents and earn a masters in business administration from Franklin University, worked with his father as owner-operator of the Columbus Grand Hotel and Banquet Center at the northeast corner of East Dublin-Granville Road and Interstate 71.
He also was active with the Northland Area Business Association and 161 Task Force, both of which promote business development and beautification efforts in the area.
In his spare time, he enjoyed snow skiing and visiting water parks with his daughters. His children had not yet been told of their father's death early Wednesday, his father said.
A funeral for Ashraf will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday at Ahmadiya Mosque, 3360 Toy Road in Groveport.
Dispatch reporter Sheridan Hendrix and Assistant Metro Editor Jim Wilhelm contributed to this report.
dnarciso@dispatch.com
@DeanNarciso
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Man was learning to fly ahead of fatal Madison County plan crash
