A pilot who lost his life in a light aircraft crash has been praised as a 'free spirit' by his family.
Andy Walkden, 54, died when his paramotor aircraft crashed near the coastal road in Southport.
The crash prompted a huge emergency response but sadly Andy could not be saved, reports the Liverpool Echo .
Andy's daughter Kayleigh Worthington paid tribute to her dad and said: "He was a very positive person, a free spirit who enjoyed like. I'm going to miss him."
She also said her thrill-seeking father brought joy to many people through his love of flying.
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Kayleigh said her father had 15 years of aviation experience and it had appealed to his adventurous personality.
The last time that Kayleigh saw her dad was on her son's birthday when he dropped off a card.
Her brother, Aaron, had seen him the morning just hours before the tragedy.
She said she was sent a picture of her dad flying into the sunsets at Southport and that became the last photo of him being alive.
Kayleigh said: “Someone came to me and sent me a picture of him at 6.59pm, the reports said at 7pm it was reported. This picture may be seconds or minutes before it happened.
"It all looks perfectly fine, it’s nice to seem he’s going into the sunset, that’s quite comforting."
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The family first heard of the crash through Facebook before they rushed to find out what happened.
Hair and beauty salon owner Kayleigh rushed to phone his brother and asked 'Where's dad, has he gone flying?'
Aaron and Kayleigh's husband went out and found the windsock Andy used when out was still in place, meaning he had not returned from his flight.
Soon as the police arrived, they had cordoned off the crash site.
The family waited on the DNA tests before the police can formally identify Andy due to the severity of the crash.
According to Kayleigh, Andy had a passion for adrenaline-pumping sports.
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When he wasn’t flying, the grandad of four also did motorcross, rode road bikes and super bikes, cycled and recently took up ice hockey - but his passion was always flying paramotors.
She also said family was important to Andy and he enjoyed watching his children interact with their own children.
Andy was grandad to Aaron's children Gracie, 11 and Riley, 6, as well as Kayleigh's boys Albie, 6, and Ellis, 3.
Albie even cut out a picture of his grandad from a newspaper because he “wanted something to remember him by”.
His family have also taken comfort from knowing he was part of so many milestones and had packed so much into his 54 years.
The family are waiting for the formal identification to take place before they can make funeral plans.
