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Atlas Air CEO dies in crash
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January 24, 2001: 6:22 p.m. ET
Chowdry, founder of air cargo carrier Atlas Air, was piloting private jet
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Michael Chowdry, the CEO of air cargo carrier Atlas Air Inc., died Wednesday when the private jet he was piloting crashed in an open field in Colorado.
 There was one other passenger on the plane, who was also killed, but that person's name was withheld pending notification of relatives. The company's statement said the plane took off at 11:25 a.m. MST from Front Range Airport in Watkins, Colo., for a scheduled 30-minute flight. It crashed two minutes later. The company said the National Transportation Safety Board will conduct an investigation into the crash.
Richard Shuyler, the executive vice president of the company, will assume the CEO duties until further notice.
"He was not only our complany's leader, but he was my mentor and best friend and I will certainly miss him," Schuyler said of Chowdry in an emotional press conference. "When you lose someone like Michael, he's truly irreplaceable. But he left behind an incredibly sound company."
Schuyler said Chowdry was an exceptional pilot qualified to fly a number of aircraft, including a Boeing 737. The jet that crashed he had owned for nearly two years. Schuyler said he believed the flight was in the nature of a test flight and that Chowdry intended to land at the same airport he took off from.
Chowdry founded Purchase, N.Y.-based Atlas in 1992. It has grown rapidly to become the largest operator of Boeing 747 cargo jets, of which it owned 37. It flies the aircraft to 101 cities in 46 countries on behalf of other carriers, primarily passenger airlines, and it provides aircraft, crews and other operating expenses as part of its contract. It is the third-largest air cargo carrier in the world behind FedEx Corp. (FDX: Research, Estimates) and United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS: Research, Estimates).
Chowdry, who was 45 at the time of the company's last proxy statement in April, was born in Pakistan, moved to Britain at a young age and to the United States to go to college. Schuyler said he lived the quintessential American success story, coming here with no money, living in his car at one point early in his career, and getting into flying as a crop-duster pilot.
Shares of Atlas (CGO: Research, Estimates) halted trading shortly after the crash, though the crash was not announced until after 4 p.m. ET. Shares closed at $36.25, up 6 cents on the day. Chowdry owned 56 percent of shares, according to the company's most recent proxy statement. 
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