VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — A pilot who died in a plane crash near Stave Lake Monday evening last posted a picture to social media asking where she should land. A day later, the aviation community is remembering her lasting legacy and love of flying.
Erissa Yong-Wilson, 66, is being described as a “great mentor and fantastic example for aspiring female aviators,” by George Aung Thin, president of the Abbotsford Flying Club.
In a Facebook post, Thin says Yong-Wilson “was a great pilot and an all-around really cool person.”
“Her loss is a great loss to our flying community,” Thin writes.
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Yong-Wilson last posted to Facebook Monday from a plane that seems to show the area of Stave Lake with the caption, “Where do you think we should land next?”
Comments left on the post Tuesday say Yong-Wilson lived her life to the fullest, enjoying every moment of it.
“She touched the lives of everyone she met with her passion and unbridled zest, she is greatly missed,” one person writes.
Speechless and devastated is how a different commenter reacted to Yong-Wilson’s post.
“She was definitely larger than life, and touched so many hearts in her time here on Earth,” the person writes.
This is the last image posted to Facebook by Erissa Yong-Wilson shortly before the plane she was in crashed near Stave Lake in Mission yesterday evening. Family and friends in the aviation community are mourning her loss.
BG story: https://t.co/0dyk6fRg8u pic.twitter.com/nSqH3hefP9
— Sonia Aslam (@SoniaSAslam) July 28, 2020
Others remember Yonge-Wilson for her undeniable passion of flying and how she shared that with those around her.
Some of her recent flights were posted to Facebook, showing her travelling around the province documenting her adventures.
Another aviation page Young-Wilson was part of is celebrating her memory and mourning the loss as a “massive hit to our community.”
It’s unclear what caused the single-engine Cessna carrying Yong-Wilson and another passenger to crash, but an investigation is ongoing.
RCMP had been called to an abandoned airstrip after reports of a downed plane near the lake around 6 p.m. Yong-Wilson died at the scene of the crash, while a 21-year-old was found and rushed to hospital.
-With files from Sonia Aslam