He dropped out of college in 1968 to spend more time playing the flute and enlisted in the U.S. Army (after the Vietnamese Tet Offensive).
Walton then moved to San Diego where he founded Corsair Marine,[3] a company that built trimaran sailboats.
He also lived in Durango, Colorado, and was an enthusiastic skier, mountain biker, hiker, motorcycle rider, skydiver and scuba diver.
Walton's plane crashed at 12:20 p.m. local time (18:20 UTC) shortly after taking off from Jackson Hole Airport.
[8] The National Transportation Safety Board later reported that Walton had improperly reinstalled the rear locking collar on the elevator control torque tube.