William Alexander Garvie Hilts
1977 – 2015
William Hilts died on Friday May 22nd, doing what he loved, flying a water bomber fighting forest fires in northern Alberta. He was 38. He leaves behind his parents, Maria and Stewart Hilts, his younger brother Matthew and his wife Paula, his sister Katherine and her husband Darryl, his nephew Jaxson, and his grandmother Rosa Gallo, as well as many other aunts, uncles and cousins. He also leaves a very strong network of friends in BC and elsewhere, many with ties to the flying community.
William took his pilot training at Confederation College in Thunder Bay, later flying for Kenora Air Services, Turtle Airways in Fiji, Harbour Air out of Prince Rupert, and Wasaya Airways in northern Ontario. He worked his way to his dream job flying water bombers for Conair in BC and Alberta starting four years ago. He was part of the team fighting the Cold Lake fire when his plane went down.