Fort Wayne doctor, wife killed in Michigan plane crash

Charlevoix, MI - A single-engine plane that took off from Fort Wayne's Smith Field on Friday crashed into a garage in a neighborhood near a northwestern Michigan airport, killing a Fort Wayne pain specialist and his wife and leaving his son – who survived a plane crash in 2003 with his father that killed his mother and two siblings – in critical condition.

The News-Sentinel reported Saturday that Dr. Stephen Hatch, his current wife, Kim, and his son Austin, a junior-to-be at Canterbury High School and this year's News-Sentinel PrepSports Player of the Year in basketball, were on the plane, said Dr. David Bojrab, partner in Pain Mangement Associates, where Hatch worked since 1999.

Hatch, 46, and his wife were killed, Bojrab said.

Hatch had a lake house that they were going to, Bojrab said. Hatch was a graduate of the University of Michigan and did medical training at Wake Forest University Medical School. He was a member of Dupont Hospital's board and St. Vincent's Catholic and Blackhawk churches, Bojrab said.

Austin Hatch had accepted a basketball scholarship offer from the University of Michigan last week.

In 2003, Hatch's first wife, Julie, 38, and their daughter Lindsay, 11, and son, Ian, 5 were killed in a plane crash that Hatch and Austin survived.

Kim Hatch is survived by two daughters and a son, Bojrab said.

The Beechcraft Bonanza plane went nose-first into the garage along a residential street about 8 p.m. just north of Charlevoix Municipal Airport, said Federal Aviation spokesman Ronald Herwig.

The plane had taken off earlier in the day from Smith Field, Herwig said. Hatch, as owner of Smith Field Air Service, in the past successfully fought against the closing of Smith Field.

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash, Herwig said.

Hatch came to Fort Wayne to work for Preferred Anesthesia before joining Pain Management Associates.

Dr. Hatch was also part of the medical staff at Parkview Hospital.  They issued this statement in response to hearing of his death:

Dr. Hatch's death is a loss for the medical community, but even more so for his family. Along with the rest of our community, we are saddened to hear of this tragedy.

The crash occurred just north of Charlevoix Municipal Airport, about 165 miles north of Grand Rapids, along Lake Michigan's northeastern shore.

Fifteen-year-old witness Timmy Schut tells the AP he saw "debris everywhere" at the crash site.

Canterbury High School sent an all school/all family email Saturday stating:

It is with deep sadness that the Canterbury community has learned of the deaths of Kim and Steve Hatch, parents of Austin '13, in a plane crash in Michigan on Friday evening. Austin was also in the plane and is hospitalized in serious condition. This is all the school knows at this time. Please keep Austin and his family in your thoughts and prayers.