Fast food mogul and wife likely crash victims on prop headed to Tampa via Teterboro

A plane that crashed in Virginia after taking off from Teterboro early Sunday apparently held Daniel Dorsch, who made his name as former president and CEO of the Checkers fast food chain, and his wife, their son said.

During his stint with Checkers Drive-In Restaurants,  Daniel Dorsh of Tampa, Fla., named one of his companies after his three sons -- Nicholas, Elliot and Jordan LLC. Jordan even worked at Checkers while his dad was in charge.

Jordan Dorsch told the St. Petersburg Times this afternoon that Daniel Dorsch (photo right), who is a registered pilot, and his wife, Cyndie, had been in New York for the weekend and planned to fly back to Tampa in their private plane today. But they never showed up, Jordan said, and he'd been unable to reach them.

There's a possibility two others were aboard, a source told me, but authorities haven't yet confirmed that.

"It was tough to tell at first -- it hit the ground really hard," the source said. "The wreckage covered the entire farm."

"It was a real bad roar, and then a real -- like a bomb going off, like 4th of July fireworks," said one local landowner.

A group of men nearby heard the crash and ran to the site, hopping fences along the way.

"I was the first one up there, and there was just nothing left," a young man named Joey Smith told a reporter for WSLS TV-10 out of Roanake (which provided the photo below, left).

The plane -- registered to Nicholas, Elliot and Jordan LLC -- left Bergen County at 7:30 a.m. and was over Virginia when the pilot reported that a panel peeled off, said FAA spokesman Jim Peters. The pilot asked to divert to nearby Lynchburg Regional Airport, he said.

The turboprop then soared to 36,000 feet before the craf began to plummet, Peters said.

"There was no further communication with the aircraft," he said.

It crashed at 10:38 a.m. in a field outside Roanake, strewing wreckage across nearly 100 yards of a farm owned by Virginia Tech University, Peters said.

The flight was headed to Tampa Executive Airport in Florida, where the 56-year-old Dorsch and his wife, 55, have a home. Peters said he didn't know whether the Dorsches were aboard the flight or whether any others had joined them.

Dorsch, who loved to fly everywhere, resigned from Checkers abruptly in early 2003, after four years with the company. He had also been a franchisee with KFC, Taco Bell and, more recently, the Papa John's pizza chain.

In his days with Checkers, Dorsch was known as a forceful, charismatic -- and at times combative -- leader. Still, one thing colleagues and competitors couldn't deny: Dorsch helped the fast-food institution slash debt, cut costs, simplify its menu, rebuild its brand -- and make money.

That wasn't easy with a lethargic network of what at the time were nearly 1,000 outlets, most of them in the Southeast, and just about all of them in debt.

But Dorsch was an idea man, and he brokered deals with the Tampa Bay Bucs, as well as other NFL teams, and with racecar classics, including the Indianapolis 500. The company also came up with the slogan: "You Gotta Eat," which spoke not only to customers but franchisees and advertisers, as well.

"You are the No. 1 thing in our company’," Dorsch told his Checkers employees. "People do not wake up in the morning, look in the mirror and say, ‘I’m gonna’ screw up today.’

"They say, ‘I want to make a difference and I hope somebody notices’."

By the time he was finished, Dorsch had sliced nearly a quarter of Checker's chain stores from the roster before leaving. He's pursued other ventures since then, more recently as president and CEO of Fun Bike Center Motorsports in Lakeland, Fla.

A special thanks for her assistance to this article to former New Jerseyan (by way of Oradell) Jan Sweet, who now enjoys views of the Blue Ridge Mountains from her Wayneboro, Va. home. What so savvy a musical taste as Jan is doing in John Denver territory remains a question for another time.

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About the plane: Pilatus PC-12

MANUFACTURER: Pilatus Aircraft, a Swiss company in business since 1939

HEIGHT: 14 feet (with landing gear down)

LENGTH: 47 feet, 3 inches

WINGSPAN: 53 feet, 4 inches

PASSENGER CABIN: 330-cubic feet

CAPACITY: 9 passengers

ENGINE: A single Pratt &Whitney Canada PT6A-67P

TAKEOFF POWER: 1,200 shp (flat-rated)

MAXIMUM RANGE: 1,560 nautical miles (with 3 passengers)

MAXIMUM CRUISING SPEED: 322 miles per hour

MAXIMUM ALTITUDE: 30,000 feet

SOURCE: http://WWW.PILATUS-AIRCRAFT.COM