'The world shattered' for parents of victim in Fort Smith, N.W.T., plane crash
CBC
Tony Alba vividly remembers the day, just over a year ago, when he drove north with his son Paszolo Alba from Edmonton to Fort Smith, N.W.T., where Paszolo was about to start a new job with Northwestern Air Lease.
"He was very excited about it," Tony recalled.
"I fully remember it, it was January 15 of last year, 2023, when him and I drove to Fort Smith, so that he could take all his belongings, you know, and his car. So he was so very happy."
Now, Tony and his wife Carol are mourning for their son and trying to imagine how to carry on without him. Paszolo, 24, was among the six people who died last week when the Northwestern Air Lease plane he was in crashed and caught fire near Fort Smith, N.W.T. One person survived the crash.
Speaking to CBC News on Tuesday from their home in Edmonton, Tony and Carol Alba often struggled to hold back their tears while talking about "our beloved son."
"It's painful, and the absence of Paszolo makes it unbearable every single day," said Carol.
"It feels like the world shattered," said Tony.
Paszolo, the older of Tony and Carol's two sons, had long aspired to be a pilot.
Tony, originally from the Philippines, had studied as an aeronautical engineer but never pursued a career in aviation after immigrating to Canada. He believes his son — always disciplined, ambitious and forward-looking, Tony said — was inspired to fulfil his father's dreams by becoming a commercial pilot.
Taking a job with Northwestern Air Lease was going to be a stepping stone to bigger and better things, Paszolo's parents explained. Paszolo had started by studying aviation management in Edmonton and then got a job in customer service with Central Mountain Air. From there, he was hired as a first officer with Northwestern Air Lease.
"He was full of, you know, happiness, full of very, very enthusiastic, and as I said, always very ambitious," Carol said.
"I think he wants to be remembered as a man who always [had] a drive to life ... always there's ambition and always, 'don't waste your time.'"
Paszolo enjoyed being in Fort Smith, the Albas said. It didn't take him long to get to know most everybody in the small, tight-knit community, and he made friends easily.
The Albas describe their son as a natural leader who, despite his smaller stature, was looked up to by his friends.
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