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Pilot error led to Alaska crash killing billionaire Petr Kellner, NTSB says

September 27, 2023 at 07:32 pm

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The March 2021 helicopter crash in Alaska that killed billionaire Petr Kellner and four others was likely caused by pilot error and inadequate training, a report by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on Wednesday.

Kellner, who was at the time the Czech Republic's richest man and founder of investment group PPF, was killed in the crash on a heli-skiing trip in Alaska. The crash took place near Knik Glacier northeast of Anchorage.

The NTSB determined that the probable cause of the accident was "the pilot's failure to adequately respond to an encounter with whiteout conditions, which resulted in the helicopter's collision with terrain."

The operator's inadequate pilot training program and pilot competency checks also contributed to the accident, the NTSB report added.

It also said the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) principal operations inspector's "insufficient oversight of the operator" contributed to the incident. One passenger had survived the crash but there was a delayed notification of search and rescue organizations, the NTSB report showed.

Kellner was a towering figure in the Czech Republic's post-communist era, amassing wealth estimated at the time of his death at $17.5 billion according to Forbes.

He was the world's 68th richest person on Forbes' 2020 list, tied with media giant Rupert Murdoch and his family.

His heirs filed a lawsuit in Alaska in April in the quest for a probe into "potential negligence" that caused the deadly crash.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

By Kanishka Singh

Petr Kellner

Petr Kellner (born 20 May 1964) is a Czech businessman. He is estimated to have a net worth of US$ 10.4. billion according to Forbes' latest annual list of billionaires, making him the wealthiest person in the Czech Republic. At the same time, he is currently ranked as the 106th richest person in the world. After the Velvet revolution he worked for the Czech company Impromat, an importer and seller of Ricoh photocopiers. While working for that company, he met Milan Maděryč and Milan Vinkler.

Investment fund PPF
In 1991, after the announcement of Czechoslovak voucher privatization he founded, with Milan Vinkler and state-owned glassworks Sklo Union, the investment fund PPF (První privatizační fond). In 1992, PPF investiční společnost a.s. was established and the funds’ names were changed from privatisation to investment. The funds were very successful and purchased stock of more than 200 corporations with value over 5 billion CZK. With help of these profitable transactions, the last investors from voucher privatization were bought out and Petr Kellner became the dominant owner of PPF group. Kellner himself owns 2,02% stake in Assicurazioni Generali.

Wealth
As of 2009, Kellner owned 94.36% of the PPF financial group. In 2006, Forbes estimated PPF's net worth at US $3 billion and listed Kellner as 224th wealthiest man in the world. In 2007, he moved up to 119th with US$ 6 billion and then in 2008 to 91st with US$ 9.3 billion. In 2009 he was 76th with US$ 6 billion and in 2010 89th with US$ 7.6 billion. Kellner´s newest position on the Forbes list is 106th with an estimated wealth of US$ 10.4 billion (2012).

However, the above figures were criticized as overestimated by some Czech economic media. Their estimates were considerably lower, CZK 60–75 billion (app. US$ 4 billion) according to the weekly Týden, or even less than CZK 50 billion (app. US$ 3 billion) according to journalist Miroslav Motejlek. Thus, Kellner would have been surpassed by entrepreneur Andrej Babiš on the position of the wealthiest resident of the Czech Republic.

He owns a Gulfstream G500 airplane named Káně. In 2010 he bought Boeing 737-700BBJ. He lives in an extensive residence in the village of Podkozí near Prague, but he owns a number of other real estates - for example apartments in Prague, London, Moscow, a log cabin in the Alps, a house in Barbados, and a whole island resort (part of British Virgin Islands). Kellner owns also one of the largest collections of photographs taken by Josef Sudek.

See Also
*The Kellner Family Foundation

Source @ Wikipedia

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