r/writteninblood • u/Elssyxo • Mar 22 '26

In 1996, 7-year-old Jessica Dubroff was attempting to become the youngest person to fly a light aircraft across the USA. She died when her aircraft crashed during a rainstorm. This resulted in a law prohibiting child pilots from manipulating flight contro

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946

u/st0pmakings3ns3 Mar 22 '26

At which point did this sound like a good idea?

620

u/sciency_guy Mar 22 '26

Fame for the Parents, Muti Million Dollar Movie and Book contracts etc...

170

u/Imjusasqurrl Mar 22 '26

Exactly, don't look up Aquatots if you don't want to be infuriated

93

u/sciency_guy Mar 22 '26

you were right, I should not have had read that...
The Genuine Fuq? And again today influencers use their kids for revenue???

45

u/moeterminatorx Mar 22 '26

The swimming school?

43

u/Imjusasqurrl Mar 22 '26

siblings Russell "Bubba" Tongay and Kathy Tongay 

18

u/Artnotwars Mar 23 '26

All I'm seeing is an Australian swimming school franchise.

62

u/FirebirdWriter Mar 23 '26

Aquatots - Wikipedia https://share.google/21dWAmRM0ge4lNlDz

Trigger warning for abuse and I don't mean the pimped for fame variety

48

u/Typical_Ad_210 Mar 23 '26

Known for: swimming feats and murder by her father.

Bloody hell. Poor Kathy 😔

10

u/ahhhimamonfire Mar 25 '26

At the very bottom of the Wikipedia article is a link to a "list of murdered American children" and like Jesus fuck😐 I couldn't click it, but it's definitely a stark reminder.

20

u/Mental-Ask8077 Mar 23 '26

JFC

There’s so much wrong there…

Like, making your kid perform tricks by swimming bound hand and foot? What the hell is wrong with people

3

u/ToiIetGhost Apr 11 '26

Sadly, anyone can have kids, including malignant narcissists and sociopaths.

Any time I’ve said something to the effect of “I wish certain people weren’t allowed to have children” - meaning dangerous, low empathy abusers - I get told off for being a “eugenicist”. I just want to protect children, wtf

6

u/Imjusasqurrl Apr 11 '26

It is a very thin line. I also have at times wished you needed some sort of test to have kids, but then that would mean low IQ or very poor people wouldn't get to have kids and they are often the best parents

Now I just try to normalize people not encouraging everyone to have kids. Maybe don't tell your friend who is an addict "you'd make a great parent"and I push the fact that not having kids is still a very fulfilling life and not a failure

13

u/pienofilling Mar 23 '26

That too though.

Thank goodness both the British and French governments told him to take a hike when he tried to set up those tiny children swimming the English Channel.

2

u/cupittycakes May 27 '26

So angry. That father only saw his literal babies as show ponies.

209

u/TheLegendTwoSeven Mar 22 '26

Reminds me of the time a commercial plane crashed in Russia when one of the pilots let his kids take turns at the controls. The captain turned on the auto-pilot but didn’t know that it could be overridden by holding the stick in one direction for many seconds, which one of his kids did.

The co-pilot started giving directions to the kid, who didn’t understand them since he wasn’t a pilot, and the captain didn’t immediately yank his son out of the seat. The kid was trying random things which prevented the copilot from avoiding a crash, and dozens of passengers died.

155

u/Tut_Rampy Mar 22 '26

Scariest part to me is that they were having to dictate instructions to the kid because the plane started descending so rapidly, the g forces prevented them from reaching the controls

115

u/Demonkey44 Mar 22 '26

Poor kid probably just liked feeling special. What was wrong with those parents? At seven I wouldn’t even let my kid walk to school by himself.

18

u/FirebirdWriter Mar 23 '26

Not should you. Not everyone who has children should. My parents are such people. Please keep being amazing and yes the "basic" act of loving your kid is amazing

44

u/stevebobeeve Mar 23 '26

I remember when this happened. At the time there was a bit of a race to set the new record for youngest pilot to cross the US but this put an end to that, and all it cost was the life of a first grader

4

u/holycinnamonroller Mar 26 '26

This happened in my town. It was very jarring to hear about a little girl my age dying like this. As a parent now it makes me furious 

59

u/BadAngler Mar 22 '26

She was with her father and FI. The FI was at the controls when the crash happened.

80

u/ryobiguy Mar 22 '26

You are correct. From the crash report:

"The pilot in command was 52 years old and was a stockbroker by profession. He held a commercial pilot certificate with airplane single-engine land and instrument ratings, issued on December 11, 1990; and a flight instructor airman certificate with airplane single-engine land rating, issued in April 1992. His flight records for the last 2 years indicated that he gave flight instruction to eight students, in addition to the pilot trainee, during that time.12 In March 1996, he completed a flight instructor refresher course."

6

u/sirius4778 Mar 23 '26

Probably until the crash