This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A flight instructor who was killed with his student pilot in a small airplane crash Wednesday has been identified as a former U-2 spy plane pilot, Gary T. Hawes.
Killed when the single-engine Cessna 150 fixed-wing aircraft went down about 11 a.m. Wednesday, near the Cove Wash Trailhead in the mountains south of the town of Santa Clara, was 75-year-old Hawes, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and flight instructor from St. George-based Above View FBO & Jet Center.
Washington County sheriff's Sgt. David Crouse confirmed Thursday that Hawes, along with 38-year-old Brad Brian, of Washington City, had been identified as the victims of the crash.
Above View, when contacted Thursday, declined to comment on the accident or Hawes.
Hawes' family, other than confirming he had died in the crash and had flown U-2s over Cuba and Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, declined to comment on the accident Thursday.
Brian, a physician at Dixie Regional Medical Center who leaves behind a wife and four children, "had dreamed of becoming a pilot his entire life and was finally making that dream become a reality," according to a family statement.
Crouse said that the bodies of the men were recovered Wednesday afternoon after the wreckage of the plane, which had crashed upside-down and come apart on impact, was found by search-and-rescue workers and a helicopter.
Crouse said the cause of the crash was unknown, but the sheriff's office, National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration have launched investigations.
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