The family of a former member of the Royal Air Force who died in a light aircraft crash in Dubai have paid tribute to “a lovely person who was always laughing and smiling”.
Christopher Stone, who was from the UK but lived in Malaysia, was killed alongside two other Britons, including a former RAF wing commander, and a South African citizen in the crash on May 16.
The four-seat UK-registered plane plummeted to the ground around three miles south of Dubai International Airport, killing the passengers and pilot.
Mr Stone’s family said they had been left “devastated” by his death.
In a statement released through the Foreign Office, they said: "Chris was a lovely person, always laughing and smiling. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him.
"At the age of 16 he joined the Royal Air Force and has since spent all of his time in or around aeroplanes.
"After leaving the RAF he continued to work in this field. His travelling led him to settle down in Malaysia where he leaves behind his beloved daughter Iesha, of whom he was immensely proud.
"The family is devastated by what has happened and are struggling to come to terms with the fact that we will never see Chris again.
"United in grief, we send our love to the other families involved and like them, we ask for the chance to mourn in peace."
The crash happened as the DA42 aircraft was "on a mission to calibrate terrestrial navigation systems at the airport", the United Arab Emirates General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) said after the incident.
The Diamond DA42 aircraft is described on the Diamond website as having a "high degree of crashworthiness" and being "easy to fly and burns fuel like a single, but with the added safety of a second engine".
The Government of Dubai Media Office tweeted an image of a small plane with the registration G-MDME in its initial announcement of the crash.
That aircraft is registered to Flight Calibration Services Ltd, based in Shoreham, West Sussex, according to Flight Radar.
In November the company said it had secured a contract to carry out work at Dubai International Airport.
The aircraft, which has an all-carbon airframe, has a maximum speed of 226mph, can operate at a maximum altitude of 18,000ft and weighs 1,410kg, the site added.
Dubai International Airport is the world's busiest by international passenger traffic.
