Peter Lynch loved planes, and none more so than the Mallard.
He went just everywhere he could with the seaplane: the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam and his favourite airfield at Evans Head.
Often he took his teenage son along for the ride as co-pilot, filming the journeys on a GoPro camera and getting his boy to edit them with music before uploading them to his YouTube so everyone could share in the joy.
The Gruman G-73 Mallard is a seven-decade old twin engine aircraft capable of landing on land or on water. In a 2013 interview, Mr Lynch described it as an airborne campervan, with room inside for the kids to walk around and play boardgames.
His 1948 model was one of only eight of its kind left in the world.
On Thursday it nosedived into Perth's Swan River and broke apart before a crowd of horrified spectators lining the banks to celebrate Australia Day, killing the father-of-three and his Indonesian girlfriend Endah Cakrawati.
Mr Lynch's other great love was business and he found great success on Queensland's coalfields.
He became one of the youngest mine managers in Australian mining history when, at age 31, he was appointed to run Mt Isa Mine's Oakey Creek project.
Later, he branched out on his own, buying a fledgling mining exploration outfit called Waratah Coal and developing plans for a multi-billion dollar project in the Galilee Basin.
His ambitions were brought undone when federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett rejected the project, prompting a massive slide in Warratah's share price and resulting in a takeover by Clive Palmer's Mineralogy.
Mr Lynch left Waratah Coal in 2009, shifting focus to Indonesia, where he started mining exploration outfit Cokal, before taking a senior post with Fortescue Metals last year, moving from Brisbane to Perth.
He also devoted years to a project that combined his twin loves of business and flying by establishing a consortium to develop an air park at Evans Head in northern NSW.
On Friday, as news of his shock death swept across the country, former colleagues and fellow aircraft enthusiasts paid tribute to the 52-year-old.
"He was a good mate, father and friend. I'm shocked and saddened," friend Maria Alpbert wrote on Facebook.
"Peter was a great mate and all of us at Fortescue convey our deepest condolences to his family, including his three children, and to Endah's family," Fortescue chief executive Nev Power said.
"Clear skies Peter ... and may you Rest In Peace our dear friend and colleague," the organisers of the Great Eastern Fly-in committee, which Peter attended every year, said.
