Enbridge Energy and Sarnia area officials are mourning the tragic loss of helicopter pilot Dean Bass.
The 64-year-old Sarnia man was killed Monday when his chopper crashed in Wisconsin during a routine pipeline monitoring flight.
Autumn Blaze maple trees in Heritage Park. (Submitted Photo)
Jennifer Smith, an Enbridge spokesperson in Duluth, Minnesota, said Tuesday it was a very dark day at Enbridge, and that their prayers and thoughts go out to Dean Bass' family, friends and co-workers.
City councillor and Communities in Bloom spokesperson Anne Marie Gillis said Dean was very generous in piloting competition judges from around the world to showcase Sarnia.
"I've been working with Dean for well over 10 years now. He's always been our go-to-guy when we wanted to have an aerial view of the city and he was always just excellent with the judges. He treated them like royalty, and he went out of his way to make sure that the experience was a good one," she said.
Gillis said Dean Bass was an "excellent ambassador for the city of Sarnia" who will be sorely missed by the Enbridge family, his wife and children, and the citizens of Sarnia.
She added he was flying over the city just a few days ago.
"He took up Patti Ross, who was also an administrative adviser for Communities in Bloom. He took her up to see the Autumn Blaze trees that were planted in the form of a cross at Heritage Park. And they're in their full glory now, they're a deep, deep red, so he allowed us to go up and take some pictures of that as well," said Gillis.
Wisconsin's Ashland County Coroner's Office, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash. -With files from Dave Dentinger