Joe Fantauzzi, Staff Writer

Mr. Townsend, 54, died after the ultralight aircraft he was flying crashed in Peel Region Saturday.

“He has been flying since March,” Aerotrike Aviation owner and instructor Cathy Tinney said from Peterborough, adding she spent a number of hours training with Mr. Townsend. “He was a soft spoken, very kind person. He, like many of us in this community, was very passionate about flying this kind of aircraft.”

The ultralight, which took off from Volks Aerodrome in Tottenham early Saturday morning, failed to return to the airport as expected, according to Ontario Provincial Police.

Ms Tinney said she spends a “tremendous” amount more time with her students than the minimum 10 hours required to obtain an ultralight pilot permit, adding Mr. Townsend had taken his first solo flight last week and she had given him further instruction at the Tottenham aerodrome.

After authorities noticed Mr. Townsend had not returned Saturday, a rescue centre in Trenton, ON was notified and a search began.

Officers from the Caledon and Nottawasaga detachments of the OPP were involved in the search for the aircraft and, at about 7:45 p.m., the York Regional Police helicopter, which was in the area, discovered the wreckage of an ultralight near 16738 Caledon/King Town Line, just south of Hwy. 9, according to police.

Caledon OPP officers arrived and found the missing aircraft.

Mr. Townsend was the only person aboard the aircraft when it went down, police said.

Ms Tinney said it was too early to speculate on what caused the crash.

“The aircrafts themselves are very, very safe — they have been for many years, they are stringently tested,” Ms Tinney said, adding the type of ultralight aircraft Mr. Townsend flew is capable of flying in “more wind than most people realize”.

“It’s a terrible tragedy with John,” she said.

Reached in Tottenham, Volks Aerodrome owner George Volk said the type of ultralight aircraft Mr. Townsend was flying is referred to as a “trike”, which functions similar to a “motorized hand-glider”.

Mr. Volk’s daughter, Lisa Volk, of Golden Eagle Flight School, said Mr. Townsend was not one of the school’s students.

Mr. Townsend called the aerodrome last Tuesday about storing the trike and the two met Thursday, she said.

“I didn’t even know he was a student,” Ms Volk said, adding if Mr. Townsend had been one of her students, she would have closely monitored his flight records. “It’s not my business to ask him if he was a student.”

By Monday, the Transportation Safety Board was in the process of gathering information to determine if a full investigation is warranted, said spokesperson Chris Krepski.

“There weren’t any regulations broken that we’re aware of,” he said.