Pilot who crashed on Gabriola Island remembered as 'amazing' man
Credit to Author: Postmedia News| Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2019 02:54:03 +0000
The pilot whose plane crashed Tuesday on Gabriola Island was Alex Bahlsen, an experienced aviator and flight instructor, according to friends and colleagues.
“It’s a dark day today in Nanton” are among the few words Karl Kjarsgaard could muster about the death of Bahlsen.
“He could’ve done many, many things in his life, but his passion was flying and aviation,” said Kjarsgaard, the director of the Nanton, Alta., Bomber Command Museum of Alberta, “The common denominator was aircraft and he just loved to go flying.
“Alex was always so supportive of the fly-ins and the aircraft coming to visit the museum via his airstrip. He had antique aircraft, and he gave us flybys in his aircraft for our museum events.”
Bahlsen’s private 5,000-foot, paved airstrip was dubbed A.J.’s Flying Ranch, a small patch of land a dozen kilometres north of Nanton.
Bahlsen was born into a well-to-do German family and moved to Nanton, a town of roughly 2,000 an hour south of Calgary, in his 20s after a brief visit, Kjarsgaard said.
“He loved Canada, so he moved lock, stock and barrel from Germany to Canada, then he ended up with us just north of our town,” he said. “That was his base of operations for everything he did.
“At the drop of the hat, he’d go flying. He seemed to be most animated and a fun guy flying his Stearman biplane and he also flew our Tiger Moth WW2 trainer for the museum. It didn’t matter whether he was flying high tech airplanes, or old biplanes, you could see the excitement when he was going flying.”
Bahlsen moved to Mill Bay on Vancouver Island last year.
Kjarsgaard said Bahlsen often flew between B.C. and Alberta, with occasional trips to Mexico.
“He (Bahlsen) was amazing,” said friend Rasmus Rydstrøm-Poulsen in a text message on Wednesday.
“He was a kind, caring, very intelligent, adventurous and fun guy — very talented,” said Rydstrøm-Poulsen,.
Flying was a passion for 61-year-old Bahlsen, who was a flight instructor and charter pilot.
Rydstrøm-Poulsen, who was at home in Calgary on Wednesday caring for a newborn as he tried to come to grips with his friend’s death, said he suspected it was a technical problem and not pilot error that brought the plane down.
“He was a very, very, extremely capable flight instructor,” said Rydstrøm-Poulsen.
Bahlsen flew small aircraft, including float planes and helicopters, Rydstrøm-Poulsen said.
No other details have been released about the plane or the number of passengers who were on board. The coroners service said confirmation on the number of people who died, their identities and notifying family members could take several days.
Bahlsen was also a proud grandfather and “very good friend,” who kept up with the latest technologies, Rydstrøm-Poulsen said.
“This is the last thing I was expecting,” said Rydstrøm-Poulsen, noting Bahlsen has two adult daughters and is a grandfather. “He was incredible. He was absolutely wonderful. He was an adventure of a person.
“This is a complete shock.”
Michael Tumbach, manager at NXT LVL Motors Inc. in Cayley, said Bahlsen would let the company host private car racing events on his airstrip.
“Alex would actually shut down his airstrip and let us drag race on it,” he said.
Bahlsen was a generous man and always invited guys from the shop into his house, he said.
“He was always willing to help out and make sure everyone else had a good time.”
The shop took care of Bahlsen’s personal vehicles, including a snow plow for the strip, Tumbach added.
—With files from Zach Laing and Nick Eagland, Postmedia News, and the Victoria Times Colonist