Former Yukoner Vladimir Stojkovich is being remembered as a friend to most anyone he met.

'He just took you right in,' Stephen de Windt recalled in an interview from Calgary today.

de Windt first met Stojkovich in high school when he (de Windt) moved to Whitehorse from Dawson City in 1990.

At an age when many teenagers had formed cliques already, Stojkovich befriended de Windt and accepted him into his group immediately.

'He was everybody's friend,' de Windt said.

On Wednesday, the 32-year-old Stojkovich was piloting a single-engine Piper Club aircraft when it crashed into a hay field northeast of Edmonton. He and 56-year-old aerial photographer Terry Humeniuk, of Vegreville, Alta., were killed.

Stojkovich, who was living in Edmonton, leaves his wife, Tara, who is three months' pregnant, and a one-year-old son, Vladimir Mikia.

Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada were at the scene Thursday, trying to piece together what brought down the two-seat plane.

Barry Holt, the board's regional senior investigator, said the plane may have stalled in mid-air. A stall occurs when there is loss of lift.

Holt said investigators don't know exactly when the crash occurred but say it likely happened after 1:30 p.m., based on reports from landowners who saw the low-flying plane circling.

Investigators will look at radar tapes and weather reports to see if the crash occurred at the same time as a brief storm that hit the area Wednesday afternoon.

Holt said wind could have been a contributing factor.

It's a very capable airplane. It can fly in wind,'' he said. But if the wind pushed them down, they couldn't pull out of it.''

Holt said investigators will look at pictures Humeniuk shot on Wednesday to see if they hold clues to the crash.

Farmer John Fesyk, 71, was cutting hay in his field when he noticed the wreckage.

As I got closer, I realized it wasn't anything hung up in the trees; it was further in the field and it looked like the tail of an airplane because it came down nose-first,'' he said.

Fesyk went closer to investigate and saw the body of a person.

It was a scary experience,'' he said. The tail was sticking up in the air and the front was totally smashed. There were no skid marks. It looked like it came down nose-first.''

It wasn't immediately clear what communications, if any, the pilot had with air-traffic controllers.

Investigators said there was no evidence of an explosion or fire. When the plane crashed, it was travelling at a high rate of speed and at a steep angle, they said.

According to Transport Canada records, the plane was built in 1956.

It's owned by Allison Air Service and registered to Brock Allison. He said Stojkovich was properly trained and experienced, and there had been no mechanical difficulties with the aircraft.

de Windt, also a pilot, said he was flying into Edmonton around the same time and there were some thunderstorms in the area.

'He was very cautious,' de Windt said of Stojkovich's flying, recalling Stojkovich was a little older than many who are beginning their pilot careers.

At 32, he had only begun commerically flying two or three years ago and had a total of approximately five years' flying experience.

His former stepmother, Dusica, said she always worried that his work as a pilot was risky.

It was his passion. He spent all his money that he earned on flying and all his time,'' she said from her home in Whitehorse.

Jason Basnett, another friend of Stojkovich who grew up in Whitehorse, said today it was skydiving that spawned Stojkovich's interest in flying.

'He was into having fun,' Basnett said.

Though Basnett remembers his friend as having the 'nicest, fastest car' a Chevrolet Corvette at F.H. Collins Secondary School before he graduated in 1990, it wasn't until after they had both graduated they started hanging out more often and going rock climbing together.

Stojkovich always had a good joke to tell and was well-liked by anyone who knew him, Basnett said.

'He never had a bad word to say about anyone,' de Windt said.

Always 'into' cars, Stojkovich ended up selling cars before he moved to Alberta around 1995, Basnett said.

Stojkovich's funeral is planned for 2 p.m. Tuesday at Connelly-McKinley Funeral Homes in Sherwood Park in the Edmonton area.

Meanwhile, Lil Humeniuk, Terry Humeniuk's sister-in-law, said, The family's in shock. We have suffered a terrible, terrible tragedy.''

She said Terry, who was single and had no children, had been the youngest of 12 kids.

The Canadian Press contributed to this story.