Photo: Courtesy Michael Walton
A medical transport pilot — one offive people killed in a plane crashin Nevada last week — was a proud husband and “girl dad” who loved aviation and cherished his job because it allowed him to help others, his brother tells PEOPLE in an interview.
Scott Walton, 46, died Friday when the air ambulance plane he was flying went down whiletransporting a patientfrom Nevada to Utah. Four other people werekilled in the crashin Stagecoach, Nevada, according to a previous statement from Care Flight, a service of Guardian Flight and REMSA Health.
Investigators recently said they believethe plane may have broken apartwhile still in the air. According to reports, Friday’s crash occurred while the Reno area was under a winter storm warning. Winds blew at around 20 mph, and visibility was reportedly under two miles.
An investigation into the crash is ongoing, investigators said Sunday.
Michael Walton, 43, says his older brother Scott “had this ability to light up absolutely any room that he went into.”
“He could connect with anyone in almost any circumstances,” Michael adds. “The phrase we keep returning to is that he never met a stranger. He just had this amazing ability to connect with people.”
Courtesy Michael Walton
Scott, who previously worked for a package delivery service, began flying medical transport planes last year and was excited to use his skills to benefit others, his brother says.
“Giving back and helping other people was really what he was all about,” Michael says of his brother. “He was genuinely excited about the opportunity to fly with Guardian and to be that person who is transporting people in desperate medical situations to get them the care they needed and playing that part and being able to help them.”
“The only thing that made him prouder than the work he was doing was his family and his wife and his three daughters,” Michael says. “They meant the world to him. And he really loved his work and he really loved helping other people. But doing that was also the means to the end of providing for his family.”
After growing up in an extended family that was “almost all boys,” Michael says his brother Scott experienced “quite a transition” when he became a “girl dad.”
AGoFundMecampaign for Scott’s wife and daughters has raised $133,000 as of Wednesday afternoon.
“It’s been a very big comfort to see that and how much of a wide impact he has across so many different places and people,” says Michael.
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Michael says he will “absolutely” be there to support his brother’s family, but admits that “trying to fill that gap is going to be — it feels almost impossible at this point, and I’m sure we’ll never fully do it, but we’re going to try our best.”
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“He really made other people feel at ease. And it’s something that I really was in awe of. I still don’t understand how he did it, but I think moving forward, it’s something that I’m going to try and focus on in my own interactions with people and try and leave the kind of mark that he obviously did,” Michael says.
“His lasting legacy in my mind is find the joy in small moments,” he adds. “Live in every single moment because he certainly did. And I think maybe that’s the key to it all is living in that moment, and being the light in the room is certainly a goal of mine moving forward.”
source: people.com
