KEY POINTS:
A New Zealand cameraman has been killed in a plane crash in Africa as he pursued his dream of becoming a commercial skydiver.
Hayden Rowan, 26, who grew up in Wanganui, died after the Cessna carrying him and a group of skydivers crashed shortly after take-off early yesterday in Tanzania.
The pilot, named in media reports as Baraka Rutwaza, 36, also died.
Mr Rowan had been in Tanzania working as a freefall cameraman for just five months.
His mother Kathy wrote on a skydiving website how she spent 10 days with her son in Africa last month and jumped out of a plane with him.
"I am so pleased I went to see him and did a jump with him," she wrote.
"He was living life to the full and really enjoying what he was doing.
"It's so sad to have a wonderful life cut short by such a tragic event."
In messages from friends on his Facebook webpage, Mr Rowan is described as "fearless" and an "inspiration" with an incredible smile.
Photographs show him relaxing on the beach in Zanzibar and meticulously packing parachutes in temperatures over 30 degrees in Tanzania.
Mrs Rowan's message said she hoped to bring her son's body home within a week.
It was possible his ashes would be scattered from the air over Methven in Mid-Canterbury, where he trained as a skydiver.
