Two former business partners of the pilot involved in a fatal Virginia plane crash are raising red flags about his history.
Two sources close to deceased pilot Jeff Hefner, according to The Sun, described him as a user of opioid drugs, including Oxycontin, and a man with a personality disorder who had a history of making serious threats.
Hefner was in the cockpit of a Cessna Citation private plane that crashed in Virginia on June 4. He was one of four fatalities in the incident.
The aircraft was owned by Republican donor Jeff Rumpel.
Rumpel’s daughter, Adina Azarian, died in the crash, as well as her 2-year-old daughter and the family’s nanny.
According to The Sun, Rob McBride and John MacDonald who were partners with Hefner in a charter flight business in Florida called Island Coaster Charters. They are painting a dark picture of the pilot and former Southwest Airlines captain.
It’s a sharp contrast from the image presented by others who knew Hefner, including a friend who told The Washington Post that he called Hefner “Mr. Safety” because of his attention to detail.
Jeff Hefner, pilot of doomed ‘ghost plane’ crash in Virginia, was known as ‘Mr. Safety’ – https://t.co/WYFnkZ6cV9 pic.twitter.com/YWqzT6uRmZ
— Filmy Chuna (@filmychuna) June 8, 2023
MacDonald scoffed at that, according to The Sun.
“Mr. Safety? My nickname for Jeff would be the Grim Reaper,” McDonald said of the pilot.
“If you think about the Grim Reaper, every time he’s doing what he’s doing, he is out there trying to put someone’s life in danger.
“And for Jeff to be so sloppy like that? There it is.”
The pair accuse Hefner of gravely violating pilot safety standards by consuming opioid drugs in-flight to deal with back pain.
In court papers, according to The Sun, they also accused Hefner of incompetence and mismanagement — “including failure to properly maintain their aircraft fleet.”
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