CAMBRIDGE BAY, Nunavut - A distraught man who jumped out of a small plane at 7,000 metres over Nunavut was remembered as a young, hardworking apprentice mechanic who liked to help fix people's bicycles.
The man's grief-stricken friends and family gathered Thursday in the tiny community of Cambridge Bay to try and cope with his death, wondering why he jumped - an act that forced the crew of the King Air 200 to make an emergency landing with its door open, putting their lives at risk.
"Ever since he was a young guy he was always fixing up people's bikes and tinkering with things, he had a lot of great qualities," said family friend Wilf Wilcox.
"This whole thing is just mind-boggling. He had so many good things going for him. Whatever led to this is a real tragedy."
The man, who has not been identified by RCMP, was a member of a prominent family in Cambridge Bay. He was between jobs and was in a common-law relationship.
Wilcox said the man was a lively guy who enjoyed playing hockey.
"He was a spirited individual and this is a big loss. This has brought a lot of sadness to our house."
The aviation community in the North is abuzz with praise for the two-person flight crew which managed to land the plane after declaring an on-board emergency Wednesday afternoon.
Pilots say the cabin of the plane would have quickly depressurized, filling the cockpit with a roar of frigid, Arctic air.
Paul Laserich, general manager of the small family-owned airline that has operated in the North for more than 25 years, paid tribute to the two pilots.
"I am quite proud of my flight crew. They brought the ship safely back."
He declined to say anything about the man who jumped, other than to reach out to his relatives.
"Our condolences and thoughts and prayers are with the family."
RCMP say the drama began when the pilots on the plane en route from Yellowknife reported that a passenger had become unruly. They told police they tried everything they could to prevent him from jumping.
Police interviewed the crew and the remaining passenger, a woman who was not related to the man.
"The plane came in with the door open," said Staff Sgt. Harold Trupish. "Somehow they were able to control the aircraft to land. The three other people are all OK."
Although the flight from Cambridge Bay to Yellowknife had been a medical flight bringing patients south, the return flight was not, said Alex Campbell, Nunavut's deputy minister of health. Campbell said the young man was not under the care of Nunavut Health and Social Services when he jumped.
"The individual was not (in Yellowknife) for medical reasons," said Campbell. "The individual wasn't under our care."
RCMP were using a Twin Otter aircraft to search for the man's body Thursday.
The Transportation Safety Board was informed of the incident, but was not investigating. The board said it was providing technical support to police.
"This is not a safety-related matter in terms of the operation of the aircraft or in terms of the mechanical adequacy of the aircraft," said board spokesman John Cottreau from Ottawa.
"All I can tell you is that this is a matter for the RCMP and the coroner's office."
Word quickly spread among the small aircraft charter companies that fly in the North.
A pilot from another airline said dealing with such a depressurization emergency at that altitude would have been frightening and challenging.
"The shock of it. It would have been instantly cold," said the man, who declined to be identified.
"You would have a hard time breathing. Things would have been flying around the airplane. It would have been mass confusion."
The pilot said instructions for opening the exits are printed clearly on the inside of the door in case they have to be opened by a passenger in an emergency.
The incident cast a pall over the community as people sought information about what happened and speculated on why the man jumped.
"The whole town is pretty shaken up about it," said Max Dolling, manager of the Cambridge Bay Hotel.
"Everybody knows that a door was opened and the young man left the airplane. That's about it."
Tributes to the man who jumped were flowing in online.
"You will always be thought of and never forgotten ... but you're in God's hands now. Miss you, terribly. Shocked," wrote one woman.
"Well, you are in a better place now," wrote another. "Although you will be missed dearly, you are always in my heart."
-By John Cotter in Edmonton
