“Justice for Our Hero Mitchell Allen Knaus”

Mitchell A. Knaus

November 5, 1994- May 17, 2023

Mitchell was born on November 5, 1994 as the first military dependent born in a local German hospital in Frankfurt Germany, to his Mother Krista, an Air Force broadcast journalist.

“Mitch,” as his friends and family knew him, traveled the world with his Air Force Mom and touched many lives over the years.

In 2005 he accompanied his mother to Hermosa Beach for her posting as a civilian producer-director at Los Angeles Air Force Base.

He enjoyed growing up into his teen years, and flourished in a lifestyle full of outdoor fun and fitness activities where he took up surfing and diving.

He was a standout student-athlete at Mira Costa High School. He soon earned a spot on the football team as a starting running back for the Mira Costa Mustangs.

Mitch joined the US Army in 2014 and served to 2020, earning many military service awards, accolades, and decorations.

He followed in his mother’s footsteps, becoming a military photographic and video documentation specialist.

Mitchell was the Distinguished Graduate of his video production and documentation class at the Defense Information School, Fort Meade, in 2015. He would go on to earn many other awards for excellence in photography and broadcast production.

Sergeant Knaus also earned his jump wings in service, and later, earned a private license to skydive.

An avid outdoorsman and fitness enthusiast, Mitchell completed the half Iron Man 70.3 miles in October, 2021 in Oceanside, CA, and participated in other marathons and competitions - his first half marathon he completed with his Mother at age 13.

He also took time out to care for his mother during her breast cancer surgery and treatments in July, 2021 & for 2 years afterward.

Following his time in the military, Mitchell got his private license to fly using the G.I. Bill, earning his pilots’ license.

Mitchell clocked some 325 hours of total flight time as a private pilot.

His goal was to fly seaplanes, so he moved to Florida, taking a job flying banner planes to continue earning the necessary flight hours.

Mitchell was piloting a single-engine Piper Pawnee PA25-235 when it crashed on Wednesday, May 17, 2023, near a Target shopping center in Hollywood, Florida.

His aircraft departed North Perry Airport around 12:30 p.m. and he was headed to the coast for the day’s banner runs.

The single-engine yellow Piper plane went down on North Park Road shortly after 12:30 p.m. that day, not far from the Target shopping center.

Mitchell died heroically, as bystanders noticed his efforts to steer the plane away from population centers.

At the time of crashing, he banked hard left to avoid anyone nearby, and minimize any damage to others.

He communicated to air traffic control that he was going to dump the banner as the plane wouldn’t climb properly, but Mitchell waited to drop it because he was concerned for the surrounding neighborhoods.

The controller asked if he would like to return to North Perry Airport, which Mitch replied, “I’m at 400 [feet]. I gotta drop this banner over a lake. ... I’m going to be over these oil tanks with like a lake next to it.”

That was the last thing Mitchell communicated before dropping the banner and before the plane went down.

Witnesses noted that he diverted the plane from crashing into nearby buildings and instead landed in the street at 450 N. Park Road.

“Whoever it was truly was a hero and went out of their way to not hurt anybody else,” Karen Schiff, a physical therapist at Memorial Regional Hospital Fitness and Rehabilitation Center near the crash, told the Miami Herald at the time.

Mitchell’s roommate Daniel Corti stopped by the scene of the crash.

He said Mitch moved from California to Florida just weeks before his passing for the banner pilot job. He described him as, "Really a great man with plans for his future. Good values, helpful, really nice pleasant person to be with.”

Mitchell Knaus was remembered with full Military Honors at a memorial ceremony at Riverside National Cemetery, June 29, 2023.

SOURCES

WPLG Local 10

CBS News

NBC 6 South Florida

Miami Herald

Our lawyer sent a letter in the mail on Christmas Eve day saying they dropped the case because they were not willing to wait for the final NTSB report so I have to find a new lawyer - I will fly to Florida to go to petition to close this business down with 5 deaths in their history and the Day after Mitchell’s death, a boy crashed with the same company and is now a quadriplegic, so something must be done. I want to try to petition to close his business down at first, but if I have to do more, I Know Mitchell’s best friend his “Buddy D” and all our comrades of 30 +years will fight for the justice our Mitch Man deserves.