By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
A single-engine plane belonging to 1973 Union High School graduate Michael Burlingham crashed Tuesday in Tennessee, killing the pilot and his mother, Gertrude Rutter, 84, and critically injuring his wife, the former Carol Williamson.
An associate of Burlingham's also survived the crash of the 1978 Rockwell Commander 114.
The Burlinghams were flying home to Florida after spending Christmas in Dowagiac and Holland.
Burlingham, 51, was an avid flier who once lived with Carol in Hidden Lake, a rural airport community in New Port Richey, where they had two planes, the St. Petersburg Times reported.
They married last year. She was a 1973 DUHS classmate who lived in Dowagiac until moving to Florida with her new husband.
She formerly worked for Borgess-Lee Memorial Hospital in Dowagiac.
The couple recently moved to Port St. Lucie, Fla.
The plane piloted by Burlingham took off from Ottawa Executive Airport in Zeeland, Mich., about 8 a.m. and flew south for more than 600 miles, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
It went down about noon Dec. 26 near State Highway 283 – some 25 miles from Chattanooga and the Marion County Airport.
Burlingham and his mother were found dead at the scene. Carol, 51, and Thomas Ebel, 26, were flown to Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga.
An eyewitness, Rodney Hood, described speaking to the survivors after the crash.
Burlingham was formerly vice president of products for national boat retailer Marine Max, but an official there said Burlingham recently moved on to Tiara Yachts, a Holland-based maker of luxury powerboats.
Burlingham left Michigan in 2002 to move to Florida.
He told the St. Petersburg Times last year that he selected Hidden Lake for its quiet, rural feel.
Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) were on the scene late Tuesday looking into the crash.
Before the flight was diverted to Lovell Field in Chattanooga – about 20 miles east of the crash scene – it was bound for Winchester, Tenn.
The aircraft may have experienced some sort of mechanical difficulty while trying to land.
Hood watched the tragic event unfold from his yard as the plane crashed 100 feet from his home.
He saw it heading for him just over trees in his backyard when he went outside to retrieve his newspaper.
Hood heard a "putter" he thought to be a car, then the plane plowed through trees before striking the ground and flipping.
"They were asking me if they were still alive," The Associated Press quoted Hood, who called 911.
At DUHS Burlingham served on Student Council, played tuba in band and pep band and participated in Audio-Visual Club.
A relative said Wednesday that Carol been upgraded from critical to stable condition, awakened a few times and showed good response despite sustaining multiple injuries.