YATES, N.Y.—A New York fertility doctor who was accused of using his own sperm to impregnate several patients died over the weekend when the hand-built airplane he was in fell apart mid-flight and crashed, authorities said.
Dr. Morris Wortman, 72, of Rochester, was a passenger in the experimental aircraft that went down Sunday in a pasture in Orleans County. The pilot, Earl Luce Jr., of Brockport, also was killed, according to the county sheriff.
The crash of the aircraft, identified by the National Transportation Safety Board as a Wittman W-5 Buttercup airplane, remained under investigation Tuesday.
Preliminary findings indicate that “the wings of the aircraft became detached from the fuselage and fell to the ground in an orchard,” Sheriff Christopher Bourke said in a news release Monday. The fuselage continued west for another 1,000 to 1,500 yards before crashing….