From the story, “Pilot lost power while practicing landings and his attempt to restart the engine failed.” Well, there’s problem number one. NEVER attempt to restart an engine at pattern altitude and configuration! Divert your attention to flying the plane, period. A dead stick landing with a windmilling prop is tough enough, but to lose time trying to restart the engine just compounds the problem, IMHO.
Thanks for the link. Sad, but interesting!
I was once at a safety class. They had just discussed forgetting to turn ON the gasoline; that there was just enough fuel in the carburator to climb out, engine die, attempt to return, stall, and crash inverted, just off the runway. Classic accident. Within five minutes crash sirens went off—some poor pilot had had exactly that crash.
DG