Canadian TV documentary maker John Driftmier died in a plane crash over the weekend while filming a new project from the skies above Kenya. (Handout)

CALGARY -- He made his living directing and filming a television show called Dangerous Flights -- but it was a supposedly low-risk sightseeing plane that crashed with Calgarian John Driftmier aboard.

The extreme filmmaker from Calgary was killed Sunday morning when the small plane he'd boarded for a safari jaunt in Kenya was apparently hit by strong winds, sending the aircraft plummeting into Mt. Kenya.

Les Allen, Driftmier's father-in-law said this latest job, as a director for the Discovery Canada documentary series Dangerous Flights, had the entire family on edge with worry, given the extreme risks involved.

"They took a plane from Louisiana, a little single prop, up through North America and across the top of the Atlantic -- Greenland, Iceland, Scotland -- and then they made their way down through Europe to Africa," said Allen.

Footage from the show, featuring the tiny plane landing in Greenland, offers a glimpse into the white-knuckle world the Calgary-born, Ottawa-based director apparently adored.