SAN CLEMENTE : Pilot Had Heart Attack Before Plane Crash
A San Clemente pilot had a heart attack before his single-engine plane crashed near Hanford, killing him and his wife, an autopsy showed.
Gordon Hatch, 65, was piloting his Beechcraft Bonanza on July 12 from Long Beach to Columbia in the Sierra foothills when the plane nose-dived into a cornfield.
Hatch had a history of heart trouble and had undergone bypass surgery recently, deputy coroner Bill Willard said.
Hatch’s wife, Pauline, 56, died after she was thrown from the plane, Willard said.
The couple had been married six weeks.
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