Despite his age, friends and family say Ewing was in perfect health. His plane had been checked last week. An instructor tested his skills on Monday.
Ewing began flying when he was 22 and had 18 different planes over his lifetime.
His daughter, Dana Ewing says her dad was passionate about flying, "I'd just be talking to him, and he'd say, look, that's a Fairchild. He could tell it was a 727 or 747 and he could tell you exactly how, by where the engines were placed."
/*Dwight Ewing*/ was a real estate appraiser. His business partner says he was probably out appraising land from the air, when his plane went down.
The plane's wreckage will be taken to Palmdale for a thorough examination.
