FlightSimple Aircraft Sales posted a notice in memory of Michael Wilton who was identified as the pilot of a fatal crash west of Calgary on Friday, April 22. The airplane, a 1981 Mooney M20K, crashed along Highway 1 near the Springbank Airport, according to a report by the Canadian Press, with a second passenger being taken to hospital in life-threatening condition.

The statement on the company’s website begins, “Michael James Wilton left us far too soon. He was larger than life, with a great sense of fun, a booming laugh and a generous heart.”

Born in Swift Current, Sask., Wilton moved to Winnipeg, Man. for Grade 10 and eventually earned a petroleum engineering degree at SAIT, according to the company’s statement. The company continues to explains Wilton earned a spot on the BP cleanup team in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, before launching his own business, Flight Simple Aircraft Sales.

FlightSimple Aircraft Sales is a full service, North America wide, aircraft brokerage, specializing in piston, turboprop and light Jet aircraft.

A celebration of Wilton’s life is scheduled for June 3 at The Hangar Flight Museum in Calgary.

(Photo: Adobe Stock)