The wife of a pilot who died when a plane plunged into a river, killing all four passengers on board, last night told how "flying was his passion".
The body of Keith Whyham, (58) was plucked from the river Mersey after the 10-seater craft he was piloting crashed just seconds before landing at Liverpool Airport.
He was transporting a middle-aged patient from the Isle of Man's Nobles Hospital, along with his wife, a staff nurse, thought to be in her 30s, and a student nurse, believed to be 21.
The patient was being taken to the neurological unit at Liverpool's Walton Hospital.
Speaking from the family home close to Blackpool Airport, Mr Whyham's widow Grace (51) last night talked of her shock upon hearing of the disaster.
Mrs Whyham, who has two sons, Russell (22) and James (20) said: "It is such a shock. There are a lot of people in the world that could have crashed, I never thought it would be him. He was just so conscientious, so safe, so experienced."
She added that her husband was a fit man and had no plans for early retirement and had passed his regular six monthly medical check-ups easily.
Officials from Liverpool Airport, which was closed for about three hours as a result of the tragedy, said the twin-engined plane got into trouble in its final descent.
The plane, a Piper Navajo Chieftain, plunged into the Mersey at 140mph as air traffic control staff watched it suddenly vanish from the radar screen.
The bodies of two women were recovered first from the Mersey at around 12.35 p.m. The remaining victims were found several hours later in the wreckage of the plane which was embedded on a sandbank 500 yards from the shore. Post-mortem examinations are due to be conducted this morning on the victims who have not yet been formally identified.