HANAPEPE — Four victims of Monday’s plane crash at the Port Allen Airport have been identified by friends and family. Enzo Amitrano, Wayne Rose, and brothers Marshall and Phillip Cabe died in the accident. The pilot has not been identified.
HANAPEPE — Four victims of Monday’s plane crash at the Port Allen Airport have been identified by friends and family.
Enzo Amitrano, Wayne Rose, and brothers Marshall and Phillip Cabe died in the accident. The pilot has not been identified.
Rose, 27, and Amitrano, 43, were skydiving instructors at Skydive Kauai. It is believed the men were tandem jumping with Marshall and Phillip Cabe, from Oklahoma, when the single-engine Cessna 182H crashed and burned about 9:30 a.m.
Since the crash, friends and family members have taken to social media to offer condolences and remember their loved ones.
Autumn Rose, Wayne Rose’s twin sister, was one of them.
“My twin brother was my hero. He was kind, genuine, smart, funny, fearless, and full of life and love. He chased his dreams and never settled for an ordinary life, and he encouraged everyone around him to do the same,” she said on Facebook. “Blue skies, fly free, brother, you handsome devil. I love you more than words could ever convey and I’ll carry you with me and make you proud every single day I’m blessed to walk the Earth.”
Rose said her brother was her rock.
“(He was) always there to support me in a way only a brother, and I suspect only a twin brother, can,” she said. “But then again, I think he did that for everyone he cared about. Each and every one of us was beyond blessed to know and love him.”
David Schmidt, who worked with Amitrano at the Bristol Renaissance Faire in Wisconsin, said in a Facebook post Amitrano was a gift to all who knew him.
“(He was) an amazingly gifted comic and a laid back, amazingly positive human being who I never heard a harsh word for anyone from,” he said. “More times than I can count, when my personal life was rough I asked myself “What would Enzo do?” He’d brush it off, and go out and make some people laugh. And I tried to do the same.”
Bill Freeze, who visited Kauai from Utah in February, met both men when he and his daughter went skydiving for their shared Leap Year birthdays. Amitrano and Rose were their instructors.
Freeze jumped twice with Amitrano, who had been skydiving for 20 years.
“I had trust in Enzo. He knew everything about the sport and Kauai,” Freeze said. “As others will tell you, skydiving can be scary and both of these men knew how to put you at ease by describing things as the plane climbed to 10,000 feet.
Freeze’s daughters, Amy and Camille, both jumped with Rose, who had been skydiving for about 10 years.
“I will always remember the smiles and laughs of these two guys,” Freeze said. “They loved life and I believe experienced it to the fullest every day by giving people thrills and memories that they would never forget.”
The Cabe brothers were recent graduates from Cameron University, in Lawton, Oklahoma. Marshall graduated fall 2015, while Phillip graduated spring 2016, said Elijay Morlett, a high school friend of Phillip, and a fellow member of the Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity.
“Marshall and Phillip were great men and outstanding fraternity brothers,” Morlett wrote to The Garden Island Tuesday. “They both would go out of their way to help others and were such positive individuals in so many lives.”
Aaron Walker, one of Marshall’s pledge brothers, said he was lively, charismatic, a jester and caring.
“He was the life of the party. He was good at every sport I seen him play. Soccer was his favorite, but we often played basketball together or ran football routes,” Walker said. “He has an incredible amount of determination and devotion. He was never scared to do anything or try anything new.”
Keysha Wilson, who was close with Phillip, will miss his contagious laugh and his down-to-Earth personality.
“He stood up for what he believed in and dreamed big,” Wilson said. “He left a positive impact on everyone with whom he crossed paths.”
Wilson added the brothers were a strong team.
“They both lit up a room whenever they walked in,” she said. “Their brotherly love was beautiful.”
A GoFundMe account has been started to help the family for funeral expenses. As of Tuesday afternoon, 40 people had donated $3,050.
An investigation by The National Transportation Safety Board and FAA continues into the cause of the crash. On Tuesday, investigators were reviewing records and the burned wreckage of the plane.
A witness said that shortly after the plane took off, the plane’s engine seemed to quit and catch fire. The plane appeared to be turning back when it went straight down and exploded as it hit the ground.
As of Tuesday, there were no records of accidents for the owner of the skydiving plane, which is registered under the name D&J Air Adventures. There also are no reports of enforcement actions against David Timko, the owner of Skydive Kauai.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
