Michael Horton wasn’t just a valued employee to crop-duster operator Timmy Jones.
He was like a member of the family.
“You couldn’t help but like the guy,” Jones said about Horton, who died Wednesday after the single-engine agricultural plane the 28-year-old pilot was flying crashed 2 miles east of Minter City.
“Seriously, he was the best person I’ve ever known. It’s not just me saying that. Any of these guys would tell you the same thing, these crop dusters who worked with him and knew him.”
Horton left the air strip at Midway Air in Minter City about 6:10 a.m. Wednesday. He was assigned to fly about 3 miles to the southeast to spray a cotton field with insecticide just across the Leflore-Tallahatchie County line, near Philipp.
“We couldn’t tell for sure if he was coming back from the field or going to the field” when the crash occurred, said Jones, who speculated that Horton was probably flying toward his destination when he crashed about 150 yards north of Mississippi 8.
The cause of the accident is unknown. Jones said investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration were expected to come look over the wreckage today.
Early-morning weather conditions might have been a factor in the crash, according to Tallahatchie County Sheriff William Brewer.
“I had a deputy coming through at 6:20 that morning, and it was extremely foggy in places,” Brewer said.
The sheriff said he was told by a veteran pilot that the flying conditions in the vicinity of the crash can “get you in a mess in just a split second.” According to Brewer, three agricultural pilots over the past 10 years have had fatal crashes within 3 to 5 miles of Horton’s accident.
Horton had worked for Midway Air for four years. During that time, the employee and owner became fast friends.
“Even though I had not known him that long, he was just part of our family,” said Jones, 56. “He was like a son or a brother.”
Horton, originally from Ruleville, was a graduate of Indianola Academy, where he was a running back on the football team and played other sports as well. About a year ago, he moved to Schlater, where he lived with his girlfriend, Allyson Burgess.
“He loved his job and was very passionate about it. He loved to hunt,” said Burgess. “When he wasn’t doing those two things, we were together 24-7.”
Burgess, originally from Wynne, Arkansas, said she and Horton had been introduced by mutual friends about six years ago, but it wasn’t until 2016 when they began dating. On their first date, Horton drove to Arkansas and took Burgess to dinner and a movie in Jonesboro.
“We hit it off our first date,” she said.
Horton had recently begun looking at engagement rings, she said.
“We weren’t married, but we basically were without the ring and without the pastor. I considered him my husband,” Burgess said tearfully.
The couple attended North Greenwood Baptist Church.
“He loved God with all his heart,” she said.
He also loved his two dogs, a short-haired German shepherd named “Pilot” and a Yorkie named “Oakley,” the latter of which Burgess brought to their relationship.
Jones, the owner of Midway Air, was at a loss to describe the sadness he was feeling about the death of his employee and hunting and fishing buddy.
“I can’t tell you how good of a person that boy was. He was just the best.”
Tim Kalich is editor and publisher of The Greenwood Commonwealth.
IN THE PHOTO: Michael Horton, a 28-year-old crop duster who died in a crash Wednesday near Minter City, loved to hunt and is being remembered by his friend and employer as “the best person I’ve ever known.”
