Lloyd Christopher Skeen was born on February 01, 1971, in the borough of Dulwich London, England to Jamaica-born parents Sylvester and Jean Skeen. At the tender age of 4 years, old Lloyd had his first flight on a plane with his mother to visit his grandparents in Jamaica. This was when his passion for flying started. Then on November 29, 1979, at the age 8, his family moved to Windsor, Ontario. They would move again, later, to Mississauga in 1980 and to Brampton in 1982.

Knowing what his passion was, Lloyd began pursuit of a career as a pilot early on in life. First, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Cadets and in grade 11 switched high schools to attend the Peel Regional Aviation Program at J.A. Turner Secondary School in Brampton.

Lloyd moved on to the Canadian Aviation Institute at Georgian College, graduating with the class of '95 with a diploma in Air Carrier Management. He then took a break from school in which he worked at Air Transat and began flying lessons. By the end of 1996, Lloyd earned his private pilot license at the Brampton Flying Club and was now ready to pursue his ultimate educational dream: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida.

On-campus at ERAU Lloyd began making countless friends. He was an active member of the Caribbean Student Association, the Canadian Student Association and an academic fraternity. He was also a DJ and board member at WERU, the campus radio station. In one of his shows, he expressed his desire to create scholarships for others to reduce some of the financial challenges bought on by post-secondary education.

 

By this time he was a proud owner of a Commercial Pilot License and an Instrument Rating.

Returning home to Canada, Lloyd began working at Air Transat again and then moved on to the Greater Toronto Airport Authority where he became a dispatcher in the maintenance department. Ideally, he would have begun training to convert his American license to a Canadian license but he had to begin his post-graduate life paying down some of the massive debt incurred during university.

Unfortunately, in February 2003, just days after his 32nd birthday, he died from a heart condition called arrhythmia and he would never get the chance to fly again.

Lloyd possessed the rare gift of truly loving those that he met, instantly becoming their friend. As a result, his friends came from all walks of life and were both young and old. He believed in himself even when things went wrong and were honest, trustworthy, diligent, reliable and most of all: loyal.

Lloyd is remembered fondly for his love of music, especially jazz, science fiction and a smile and infectious laugh that could fill a whole room joy.
 

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