Plane Crash Kills Dr. Stephen Hatch and His Wife; Son Austin Critical (2nd crash for son Austin)

Indiana's News Center ^ | June 25, 2011 | Nicole Hahn

[CreviceTool]

Charlevoix, Michigan (Indiana’s NewsCenter) – Officials with the FAA have confirmed that a single-engine plane that took off from Smith Field Airport in Fort Wayne crashed into a residential garage in Charlevoix, Michigan at about 7:30pm Friday Night. They say two people on board were killed and another person was critically injured. Sources close to the family tell us that Dr. Stephen Hatch and his wife Kim were the people killed in the crash. They tell us that Hatch’s son, Austin, was also in the aircraft and is in critical condition.

[az_gila]

“...The National Transportation Safety Board determined a utility pole the airplane hit during its forced landing also contributed to the crash...”
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I’m not sure when I have read anything quite so stupid as that statement.

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At least they didn't say that the utility pole hit the plane...:^)

I wonder if the plane was a Cirrus - the new “doctor-killer” Bonanza.

It hasn't made the FAA Preliminary Accident/Incident List yet...

http://www.faa.gov/data_research/accident_incident/preliminary_data/

[Colorado Cowgirl]

Is this a John Denver quote? John’s failure to have the aircraft refueled as causal factors in the accident.

[driftdiver]

Its a shame that people have the freedom to choose their mode of travel. such a shame /s

[oldenuff2no]

I learned to fly in 1970 and I fly with a doc a lot. Neither of us has ever crashed an aircraft, ran out of fuel or tried to fly through a utility pole.
Flying is not for everyone and everyone who sits in the left seat is not a good pilot. Preparation and paying attention to details will keep you alive almost all the time. There are those times when mechanical failure or the mistakes of others, ATC or other pilots, can cause serious mishaps and there is nothing you can do about it.
I really think people should wait and see what the results of the mandatory investigation are.

[CreviceTool]

“Its a shame that people have the freedom to choose their mode of travel. such a shame /s”

It’s also understood that people have the freedom to choose their demise as well....

[grey_whiskers]

Gravity is a harsh mistress.

May I appropriate that phrase for my own for-profit use?

Cheers!

[Smokin' Joe]

Yep. Prayers up for the kid. I’d bet he has some rough road ahead.

[tanknetter]

It reads stupid, but makes sense because there’s a huge difference between a “forced landing” and a “crash”. It was hitting the utility pole that probably turned the forced landing into a crash.

I, and a lot of other aviation enthusiasts, were p*ssed week before last when the loss of the B-17 “Liberty Belle” was called a “crash”. In reality the plane’s crew executed an incredible, textbook forced landing in a field (1 minute 40 seconds from observing the problem to the aircraft on the ground, stopped with brakes set). That the plne was lost was due to the unavailability of fire equipment, it wasn’t a “crash”

[Repeal The 17th]

I was just parsing the wording of the sentence, I guess.
The pilot crashed the plane into a utility pole while attempting to make a forced landing.
The utility pole did not “contribute” to the crash, it was just standing there minding it’s own business.

[Yorlik803]

I saw a sign in a Airbase that said:There is no reason to fly into a thunderstorm in peacetime.
A pilot told me that there is standing orders to that effect. I saw a picture of a USAF gulfstream that flew into a storm and the nose looked like a golfball. The hail must have been very large.

[az_gila]

At least they didn't say that the utility pole hit the plane...:^)

I wonder if the plane was a Cirrus - the new “doctor-killer” Bonanza.

It hasn't made the FAA Preliminary Accident/Incident List yet...

http://www.faa.gov/data_research/accident_incident/preliminary_data/

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It's now in the data base

http://www.faa.gov/data_research/accident_incident/preliminary_data/media/B_0627_Y.txt

The plane wasn't a new Cirrus, but was a 1975 “doctor killer” Bonanza.