Family and friends Tuesday identified the passengers killed in Monday’s skydiving tour plane crash in Hanapepe, as federal officials continued to investigate.
Five people — two tandem jumpers, two instructors and the pilot — aboard the single-engine Cessna 182H died when the plane crashed and burned shortly after takeoff from Kauai’s Port Allen Airport at about 9:30 a.m. The plane was on a skydiving tour for SkyDive Kauai.
Kauai County officials said they anticipate officially releasing the names of the crash victims today, but four of the five have been identified by family and friends.
The tandem jumpers have been identified as brothers Marshall and Phillip Cabe of Lawton, Okla. One instructor has been identified as Wayne Rose. Hawaii News Now identified the other instructor as Enzo Amitrano.
An investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board was expected to arrive on Kauai on Tuesday afternoon. She could not be reached for comment. The NTSB and the FAA are investigating the accident.
The Cabe brothers graduated from Cameron University in Oklahoma and were fraternity members of Sigma Tau Gamma of the Gamma Rho Chapter.
Robert Champ, alumni association adviser and board member of the fraternity, said he received a call Monday night from Marshall Cabe’s best friend, who told him about the plane crash. “I was shocked and devastated that we lost two good brothers,” said Champ during a phone interview from Lawton. “We had all talked to them earlier that day.”
The Cabe brothers were on vacation to visit family members. Friends also said Phillip Cabe celebrated his 27th birthday this month. “Phillip was very artistic,” Champ said, adding that he made charcoal drawings and could play several instruments, from piano to guitar.
Champ described Marshall Cabe as “really caring, very outgoing, always willing to make somebody happy or laugh — make them feel accepted.” He added that the 25-year-old loved to play rugby, soccer and football.
The fraternity set up a Facebook page “In memory of Marshall and Phillip Cabe” as well as a GoFundMe account at gofundme.com/25u2cbac to help the family with funeral expenses. They are also arranging a memorial service to be held at the Cameron University Theatre on Tuesday. Details are pending.
Friend Dylan Farmer attended Eisenhower High School with the Cabe brothers. “They would do wild, crazy things to make people laugh,” he said during a phone interview from Dallas. Farmer said his stomach churned when he learned through social media that both died in the crash. “It’s literally unbelievable that this happened,” he said.
Friends and family members took to social media to share memories of the victims.
Rose’s wife, Kaela Lynn Rose, described the fatal crash as a nightmare. In a Facebook post Tuesday, she described her husband as an intelligent, selfless man who had a contagious smile.
“If you have someone close to you that you love, hug them and squeeze them for me and Wayne because I would give or do anything to be able to do that with him just one last time,” she said in the post.
Rose’s twin sister, Autumn Rose, who was en route to Kauai from Maryland on Tuesday, described her brother as her best friend. “My twin brother was my hero. He was kind, genuine, smart, funny, fearless, and full of life and love,” she said.
On Facebook she said, “He was always my rock in my times of need, always there to support me in a way only a brother, and I suspect only a twin brother, can. But then again, I think he did that for everyone he cared about.”
