It was supposed to be part of a celebration.

NIU freshman Michael W. Tubbs, 18, was flying his Cessna 172 plane to DeKalb Tuesday to take four friends, one of whom was celebrating a birthday, for a ride.

However, barely two miles southeast of his takeoff point in Mt. Morris, Ill., the plane went down, killing its sole passenger. Tubbs was pronounced dead at the scene of the 6 p.m. crash.

Mike Macaluso, Tubbs’ resident assistant at Stevenson Towers South, said in a press release Wednesday that Tubbs’ floormates “are broken up about this. It’s just starting to sink in.” Macaluso said representatives from campus ministries, NIU and student housing comforted Tubbs’ friends after his death.

Steve Eckardt, Tubbs’ roommate, said he and Tubbs got along well. “He was really easy to get along with,” he said.

Eckardt said Tubbs had planned to join a wrestling tournament later this year. “He lifted weights and was into wrestling,” he said, adding Tubbs was an outgoing person who “hung out with everybody on the floor.”

Macaluso said Tubbs was a honor student at Byron High School and was doing well academically at NIU. “He had a lot of friends—(he was) very outgoing, very social, good-looking, well-built, everything going for him,” Macaluso said.

The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the incident. Ogle County Sheriff’s Police mentioned no mechanical failures or weather problems in relation to the crash.