A close friend of the co-pilot flying EgyptAir Flight 804 is anxiously waiting for answers.
Mostafa Ezzo, a Winnipeg-based pilot for a regional airline in Manitoba, told CTV News his best friend from flight school, 24-year-old Mohamed Mamdouh, was flying the Airbus A320 that's believed to have crashed into the Mediterranean Sea.
"I kept calling my friends (who work for EgyptAir) to make sure it was him flying this aircraft and they can confirm it was him," Ezzo said.
"I'm in touch with them, asking for updates all the time," he said. "I'm waiting for them to tell me anything."
Ezzo is Egyptian-Canadian and learned to fly at the Egypt Aviation Academy along with Mamdouh.
He says Mamdouh has been working for EgyptAir for at least five years. He's a co-pilot with 3,000 in-the-air hours on an Airbus.
He's not sure how often he flew that route, but describes his friend as the person most passionate aviation in his group of friends.
"On our days off, we used to just go to the airport and go behind the fence and watch planes flying," he said.
"That was his dream. He watched the aircraft flying and he's telling me he's going to fly that one day, and he reached what he wanted. And I'm so happy for that."
"He was that funny guy who always makes jokes. He used to love everyone and everyone used to loved him. He was very social. A hard worker. He always likes to know, always likes to learn."
