Pilot killed in Point Reyes crash had fled Houston home in flood
The pilot who died in a crash at Point Reyes National Seashore last week had recently left his Houston home after Hurricane Harvey flooded his basement, his wife said Saturday.
John R. Wilson, an oil and gas industry consultant, was found dead when search crews discovered his wrecked Cessna 172 amid thick brush at the Sonoma County park. He was 58.
He had traveled all over the world for his career, spending time between Austria, Santa Barbara and Houston, where he worked as a consultant for his firm Scorpio Resources, said Christine Wilson, his wife of 14 years.
“For me it’s not reality yet,” she said Saturday. “He just received his pilot license a few weeks ago. He was a young pilot, but he loved it and he was careful.”
She said her husband could not stay in their Houston home for the past three weeks after the storm took out electricity and running water when their basement flooded. He left Houston to stay at their property in Santa Barbara, while his wife was staying at their home in Austria.
Christine Wilson said her husband had carefully mapped out his flight from Santa Ynez in Santa Barbara County to Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa for an upcoming business trip in Napa.
“He was really, really excited about flying. He was so excited. He had been planning this for a week,” she said.
John Wilson had taken flying lessons for several years, and has flown several times successfully, including a trip from Houston to New Orleans, she said.
A multiagency search party found his plane Friday afternoon after the aircraft’s emergency transmitter went off, giving them the location. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident.
Wilson, originally from London, is survived by his wife, three children, three stepchildren and his brother.
“His love for flying and hiking and his love for everyone, his character and integrity will be forever remembered by his family and friends,” Christine Wilson wrote in an email to The Chronicle.