Boy Pilot’s Sponsors Pull Out Of Flight

Memories of the plane crash that killed 7-year-old Jessica Dubroff on a cross-country trip have prevented 12-year-old Andy Hedin from even taking off.

Andy had planned to set out today on a flight to Alaska, but had to cancel on Friday after his sponsors dropped out over the past several weeks.

“I think it stinks,” said Andy, from Sunol. “I really wanted to go.”

Sponsors who were going to pay the $3,000 cost of renting the single-engine Cessna, supply and meet other expenses apparently balked because of Jessica’s death on April 7 in Cheyenne, Wyo.

“Nobody wanted to be tagged as a person who was helping to exploit a child and put him in harm’s way,” said Al Robertson, Andy’s flight instructor. He wouldn’t identify the sponsors.