Michigan basketball recruit injured, parents killed in plane crash

An awful story out of Charlevoix, Mich.:
http://www.freep.com/article/20110625/NEWS06/110625006/Plane-crash-injures-U-M-basketball-recruit-kills-father-stepmother?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

This young man, Austin Hatch of Fort Wayne, Ind., just verbally committed to Michigan, and it was the second time he was in a plane crash, both times with his father as pilot. His mom and two siblings died in the first crash; his dad and stepmom died in this one.

Wow. What a sad story. Austin wanted to be a doctor, just like his dad.

Interesting that John Beilein made a comment, even though Austin is only a verbal commit. I don't see him getting in trouble for it.

 

Awful story.
Condolences to everyone who knew the deceased.

 

It is a truly awful story. A young man has lost both parents, a step-parent and two siblings. So tragic. I pray mainly for the young man's emotional recovery.

 

It was the second fatal crash in a plane piloted by his father. After the first, NFW am I in that plane.

 

It's a tragic situation, but seriously, this is also what I was thinking. What the hell? His license wasn't pulled after being involved in a fatal plane accident?

 

Have to agree with sg. My first thought after hearing the whole story was "What the fuck is this father thinking? He pilots a plane that kills his wife and two children, and now he's continuing to fly with the lone remaining child? How fucking irresponsible. What an asshole."

 

paging gary smith! paging s.l. price! first one to the white courtesy phone gets this story!!

and i'll wait at least a day before stomping all over the pilot/doc/father's grave. ... but geez louise.

pilots and docs, perhaps because of what they do, have to be among the most brazen, overconfident, stubborn group of people on the planet. a man grows up to be BOTH a doc and a pilot? oy.

(and, yes, i'm ducking and know MANY docs and pilots who are neither arrogant nor brazen nor stubborn... but the odds increase greatly for the shoe fitting if you're either).

 

As far as I'm concerned, this guy continuing to pilot what was left of his family after the first crash was an ego-driven version of Russian Roulette. In a very real way, if his son dies, the father killed him.

 

Can relate to the father.

 

Yeah. Maybe the first accident was just some freak thing, and this is equivalent to those urban legend tales of a guy struck by lightning eight times. But man, what the hell?

 

Darn the luck of all his dead children and wives, too. Some people just can't catch a break.

 

Just finished reading the NTSB report from the 2003 crash. First time around, the guy simply ran out of fuel.