Walter Finch
THE mother of the British-born trainee pilot who died on a training flight is on a mission to find the wallet he lost on a night out just before his death.
While she awaits the results of the official investigation into the crash, Gracia Raya wants the wallet as a final reminder of her lost son.
Markus Kaschinski Raya, 28, along with his instructor, Rafael Ricote, 24, both died during a flight from Málaga to Valencia on October 11.
Their plane crashed under mysterious circumstances on a difficult-to-reach hill in the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park in Almería.
“For more than just sentimental reasons, I would like to recover his identity card and his driving licence,” Raya told SUR.
According to Raya, her son was at the Sazon tavern, in the Teatinos area of Malaga on a night out with friends the day before he embarked on his fateful flight.
“Although there is also the possibility that he lost it near the flight school,” she added.
The One Air academy has its offices in the Malaga Nostrum commercial park.
The Sazon tavern has stated that no one handed the missing wallet in to staff.
“On the same day of the accident, [Markus] came to ask about his wallet and my colleague told him that he had not left it there,” a member of staff said.
“The next day a friend came and told us what had happened to him. A big shame.”
Raya is hoping that media publicity will spur someone who may know where the wallet is to hand it in.
The wallet contains Markus’s identification and driving licence, as his credit cards were cancelled immediately after the news of his death.
Of British and Spanish descent, Markus was born in England, where his family had relocated for work-related reasons.
His passion for aviation began in childhood, as his home was located near London’s Heathrow Airport. Following a move to Puertollano, Spain, Markus returned to the UK for mechanical engineering studies with British Airways.
He later worked for Rolls-Royce in Singapore for several years.
However, when the pandemic struck, he decided to chase his dream and returned to Spain to acquire his pilot’s licence, entirely self-funded through years of hard work.
“He alone saved all the money he needed to achieve this; he was very ambitious,” Raya said.
“His personal effort was tremendous. It was his dream.”
READ MORE:
- Student pilot killed in plane crash was 26-year-old Brit who lived on Spain’s Costa del Sol
- Two killed in plane crash: Pilot and student, both 25, plunge to their deaths during overnight flight from Malaga to Valencia
- Pilot of helicopter from Spain’s DGT traffic authority crashed while trying to make lunch stop at Almeria restaurant
