Whenever we talk about a pilot who has been killed in a flying accident, we should all keep one thing in mind. He called upon the sum of all his knowledge and made a judgment. He believed in it so strongly that he knowingly bet his life on it. That his judgment was faulty is a tragedy, not stupidity. Every instructor, supervisor, and contemporary who ever spoke to him had an opportunity to influence his judgment, so a little bit of all of us goes with every pilot we lose.
- author unknown
I suspect Crossman was dead before he flew into the mountain. Only if that were the case could it be said that he died doing something he loved. Nobody loves trying to recover from an uncontrollable spin.