Jerram described Anderson as "an extraordinary, funny, vibrant young man".
Anderson was an apprentice with Safe Air in Blenheim, where he learnt to fly as well as air craft engineering. He later completed a commercial pilots licence.
But he had found being a commercial pilot "tedious".
"His grandfather was a spitfire pilot in World War II," Jerram said.
"George wanted to be an exciting pilot too, not a boring one.
"He was an extremely experienced pilot."
Jerram had known Anderson's father Peter for 40 years. Both men worked as veterinarians in Blenheim and have written two books together, Cock and Bull Stories and Old Dogs, New Tricks. They are collections of stories about their adventures as rural vets.
He is known as "Marlborough's Flying Vet", travelling to farms throughout Marlborough, North Canterbury, Nelson and Golden Bay.
"We are great mates," Jerram said.
"Our families are very close."
Peter Anderson had been in Gisborne when the crashed happened. Jerram said he had not been able to contact him due to the power outage.
Anderson's mother had been on her way to Christchurch to visit her daughter when the incident happened.
Anderson was a member of the Malborough Aero Club in Blenheim for many years.
Club president Craig Anderson said the members are all shocked.
"He was such a lovely guy. He was full of life, always bubbly and cheerful."
Craig said Anderson had been flying in Gisborne for several years but regularly visited his hometown.
"He always popped in and say 'hello'."
The plane the men were in is believed to be a P750, a New Zealand-made short take-off and landing plane with up to 10 seats.
It had been spreading fertiliser on Tongataha Station when it crashed.
Police are working to retrieve Anderson and his colleague's body.
Farmers Air chief pilot Andrew Hogarth said both men who died were very experienced.
Investigators will tomorrow morning begin combing through the wreckage.
Power was cut to 20,000 homes in the Gisborne region after the crash.
Residents were forced into darkness last night and formed queues at atms, the local Pak'nSave and petrol stations, where Civil Defence had delivered emergency generators.
Schools were advised to close until power is restored - expected to be tomorrow night at the earliest - and Gisborne Hospital asked people to see their GPs unless it was an emergency.
Residents were being urged to conserve power and water, and follow their home emergency plans.
Small communities along the East Coast had power restored through generators at about 1pm but these were cut off between 2pm and 6pm and then also from 8pm.
Eastland Network crews worked at the scene and were prepping materials ready for the repairs.
A bulldozer ploughed a path through remote and rough countryside to make way for the heavy equipment needed to restore power to Gisborne.
Eastland Group chief executive Matt Todd said the cable could only be fixed again with the use of heavy equipment that would struggle to make it to the site of the accident.
"Getting people in on site is not such an issue because we can put them in a helicopter. Putting the big equipment we need to pull the conductors across this 800m span requires a lot of mobilisation."
KEY ADVICE TO THE PUBLIC
Power
•Treat lines as live at all times.
•Turn all power appliances off at the wall.
•Power to the East Coast will be intermittent on Tuesday.
•Whatatutu, Otoko and Puha have also had power from a generator yesterday. On and off times for these areas are the same as for the East Coast.
Water
• A water tanker will be available to Wainui residents at the Wainui Surf Lifesaving Club from around 7am. Residents can also bucket water out of their tanks.
•Save water both inside and out. That means limit the times the toilet is flushed. No watering of the garden.
Cooking and food
•Use gas for cooking either inside on a gas hob, or outside on a gas barbecue.
•The fire ban has been lifted to enable people to cook outside on an open fire if necessary.
•The free barbecues at Waikanae Beach are available until they run out of gas or are refilled.
•Some fast food outlets have generators.
General
•Limit the times you open the freezer or fridge to help conserve your food.
Health
• Please check on your neighbours, particularly the very young and very old.
• Most GP practices are working at reduced capacity due to difficulty accessing electronic notes. Limit visits to the GP to urgent or emergency visits.
•People needing to boil water for baby formula could boil it on gas or a gas barbecue, or use bottled water.
