Avondale pilot who crashed in N.M. died on daughter's birthday

When little Brynn Cokash-Perry celebrates her next birthday, she'll be remembering the day she lost Dad.

On Saturday, when Brynn turned 3, Michael Perry, 46, of Avondale died when the four-seat airplane he was flying crashed northwest of the Santa Teresa airport in New Mexico.

Perry's passenger, Jim Crosby, a Springerville dentist in his early 40s also died.

The two were "inseparable best friends," Jennifer Cokash, Perry's fiancée and Brynn's mom, said Monday.

The aircraft, a Raytheon A36, took off around 6 p.m. from the airport and flew into a thunderstorm before crashing and bursting into flames, New Mexico authorities said.

Cokash received the news just after 10 p.m.

"Flying was his passion," the 34-year-old Chandler woman said. On one of their first dates, Perry "took me flying at night over the city," Cokash recalled.

Perry had been a pilot for about 15 year and was extremely cautious, according to Cokash.

"Michael didn't fly if there was a cloud in the sky," she said, figuring Saturday's storm must have picked up suddenly when the two men stopped in New Mexico for gas, on their way home from a plane show in El Paso.

The plane was registered to SST Inc., which stands for Security Technology, Perry's company in Peoria.

Perry and Cokash had been together for six years and were planning a wedding.

"He was just the nicest man," Cokash said. "He was everybody's hero."

Perry also leaves behind two older children from a previous marriage, Kayla, 16, and Spencer, 10.

Michael Perry