I met Chris for the first time recently, at aerobatic nationals at Brits. From the brief contact I had with him, he certainly came across as a great guy. People like Chris really helped to put first timers like myself at ease.
On the Saturday afternoon I was ferrying back to Rand, going through the the SRA near Pelindaba. I'd just put out a position call when a voice came back across the radio: "Check your 5 o'clock". I looked around expecting to see a dot in the distance - and got a bit of a fright. Chris was flying his Pitts a few metres off my wing, big grin on his face.
My sincere condolences to the families of both pilots. A great loss to the local aviation community