RIP: Ryan Sageser
Age: 17
Sex: Male
Occupation: Student
Awards and Accolades: 2005 Winner of the Why Flying Is Important To Me essay contest / “Be A Pilot” scholarship. (The first-ever winner.) Also a recipient of the Amelia Earhart Award, the second-highest award a cadet can receive from the Civil Air Patrol.
Manner of Death: The Cessna he was piloting crashed in a field while returning to Wichita from a concert in Tulsa on November 4, 2006. Also killed was his 46-year-old father Markham Sageser. Two Ryan's 18-year-old friends survived the crash with serious injuries.
I'll never understand why anyone would think they can get into small aircraft on a regular basis and expect to get to live long enough to die of natural causes.