Dozens of hang-glider pilots gathered at a grassy clearing near Agassiz, B.C. to pay tribute to a young woman who died while trying the air sport for the first time.
A makeshift wooden cross near Mount Woodward marked the spot off where the 27-year-old woman's flight ended in tragedy.
Lenami Godinez-Avila and her boyfriend had booked two tandem flights to celebrate their anniversary last week. But during her ride, Godinez-Avila became detached from the glider and plunged 300 metres to her death.
Though most have never met Godinez-Avila, a group of hang gliding pilots banded together on Saturday to plant flowers near a memorial cherry blossom tree.
"It was an opportunity for the pilots to express their grief and respect," explained hang glider safety expert Jason Warner.
Emotional spoken tributes to Godinez-Avila followed the flower planting.
"You will wipe every tear from your eyes and there will be no more death or mourning or pain," said pilot Rod Samplonius, in an affecting speech to the group.
Warner, a safety officer for the Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association of Canada, said Godinez-Avila's death has resonated with pilots across the industry.
"We embraced her as our own, and so because of that, the deep sorrow is like losing someone close to us," he said while fighting back tears.
William Jonathan Orders, the pilot of the fatal flight, remains in jail on charges of obstructing justice. Authorities allege the 50-year-old swallowed the memory card belonging to the camera that recorded the incident.
Police said late this week that the card has been retrieved. Orders has been granted bail and is scheduled to be released on Monday.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Jon Woodward
