SEATTLE — A plane heading for Tacoma Narrows Airport crashed in Utah Wednesday, taking the lives of two pilots.
More is being learned about one of the people who died: he was a man from Normandy Park who was loved by many.
They describe Darrin Towe as an award-winning athlete and sailor, a hard worker and somebody who just loved to have fun.
His closest friend from their college days at Washington State University shared his cherished memories of Towe.
"We both went to this glider- introduction to gliding up at Arlington. And Darrin got the bug, and I didn't. So he continued, and that's what made him a pilot," said Chuck Skewes.
Airplanes, sailboats, surfing, you name it, Towe did it and did it well, said Skewes. Towe enjoyed taking in the beauty of the northwest.
"My girlfriend would kill me for saying this but we used to take dates up in the Cessna, go to different airfields and have dinner," said Skewes.
Skewes also grew up sailing in Seattle with Towe, and he happened to be in town this week for the 2024 Seattle Boat Show.
"[Towe] posted, you know, yesterday morning about, 'Hey, we got the plane ready to go. We're back in the saddle.' And then, and then this happened a couple hours later," he said. "I have a friend that has the same-- similar jet. And then he came over like two minutes later and said, 'That's Darrin's plane.' I went, 'Oh my God.'"
He continued, "First, it was amazing shock, and as you can see, I'm tearing up right now thinking about it because I go back from the early 80s with Darrin. The whole boat show's kind of rocked by it because everybody that has anything to do with sailing at the boat show were all talking about it yesterday."
KING 5 asked Skewes, "If he was still here, what would you want to tell him?"
"I would ask him if he wants to come sailing with me in Mexico next month," he said with a laugh. "He was fun. He's fun to hang out with and fun to sail with."
KING 5 is still working to confirm the identity of the other pilot who died, but we know the plane went down near the Utah-Colorado border. They were flying a small, two-engine plane called a Hawker 900XP Jet.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation.