Translation from German newspaper
As a simple and humble SLF with interest in aviation I would like to contribute at least something to enlight the facts of Mr. Windhorst's business travel.
I'm not really that good in English, but I hope this translation is welcome...
The business man Lars Windhorst, who was severly hurt on 26 of Dezember at a plane accident in Almaty in Kasachstan is being treated at a hospital specialized in trauma treatment in Berlin Marzahn. This was reported by a hospital spokesman.
The 31-year-old had been brought by an ambulance from Schönefeld airport at three a.m. Windhorst had crashed with a German business aircraft. One of the two pilots died, the other was severely injured. As was confirmed by aviation insiders, this was a police detective who was performing an officially licensed second activity in piloting business aircraft.
According to the hospital spokesman Detlef Hoffmann, Windhorst had suffered burns as well as injuries of the facial skull and the thorax. He is being supervised in the intensice care unit by physicians of different disciplines. He is said to be stable, awake and reacts when talked to by the physicians, but may not receive visitors. Windhorst as for now does not remember anything about the accident, Hoffmann said.
Windhorst was the only passenger on the flight of the Challenger 604 from Hannover with destination Hong Kong and a stopover to take fuel at Almaty. Soon after take-off, the aircraft, according to reports, had crashed to the ground, had been flung against a wall and had burst into flames.
The Challenger belonged to the enterprise Jet Connection which had been founded in 1997 and is based on the Frankfurt airport, and is specialized in the charter of business aircraft. As manager Georg Biesing told the Tagesspiegel yesterday, no reports of the Kasakh officials had reached him yet. Contrary to first news, there had been no explosion on board. Experts of the State Department for investigation of Aircraft Accidents in Braunschweig yesterday took off for Almaty to participate in the investigations of the cause of the accident.
According to Biesing there had been no technical disorders of the 7 year old aircraft. The same type is also used by the Flugbereitschaft of the German airforce The co-pilot and the cabin crew member also were injured and meanwhile have been brought by rescue aircrafts to German hospitals for further treatment.
Lars Windhorst is said to be one of the most glamorous personalities in the boom times of internet. In the 90ies, the young entrepreneur had come into focus when accompanying Chancelor Helmut Kohl. Windhorst had founded a business for computer equipment when only 16 years old. Kohl made of him role model for the young generation and took him along on trips to Asia to raise publicity.
Windhorst, who succeeded in convincing many investors to entrust him their money, wanted to create a huge economic empire, but finally went bankrupt in a spectacular way. Many asked later how professionals of money business could have mingled with him. Probably they were amazed by his boyish charme.
Later, he had been sued by many disappointed creditors, most of all by Ulrich Marseille, the manager of a big German hosptal chain. Surprisingly, with the aid of the new private insolvency law, Windhorst succeeded to be free from any personal debt within three years.
After his business and privat insolvencies Windhorst is now working for a finance investor.
(Source: Tagesspiegel, Berlin, from dec. 29th, 2007)