Family reveals tragic irony of Arizona man killed in freak accident when small jet crashed into his car

An Arizona family is devastated after a father of two and grandfather of one died in a freak accident when a small plane crashed into his car.

Ray Longhi, 67, was on his way to Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport on Tuesday to pick up his wife of 35 years from work when a small Honda plane collided with his red Lexus on Greenfield Road – just a few miles from his house. AZ Family reports this.

The irony, his daughter said, is that her father was an avid traveler who loved aviation. He had even taken a job with Boeing and moved his family to a house next to Falcon Field Airport in Mesa, according to ABC15.

“I’ve driven down the street hundreds of times, and so many of them were with my father,” his daughter Lorraine told the station.

“The planes or helicopters would fly over as we were driving down the road and my dad would just know all about what model plane it was.”

He was on his way to Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport on Tuesday to pick up his wife of 35 years from work when a small Honda plane collided with his red Lexus on Greenfield Road – just a few miles from his home

She said she is now struggling to understand what happened.

‘When I heard it was an accident I thought I just assumed it was a car crash, but when I found out there was a plane involved I found it so hard to wrap my head around Lorraine said.

“I just couldn’t fathom that my father could be in a plane crash next to the same airport he had lived next to for decades.

“I couldn’t possibly imagine that something like this could happen a mile from home,” she added.

Witnesses to the crash told police that a multimillion-dollar corporate jet never left the ground at Falcon Field after attempting to take off Tuesday around 4:45 p.m. The Arizona Republic reports this.

After the plane hit Longhi’s vehicle, it crashed into an orchard where it caught fire.

Four people aboard the plane were also pronounced dead in the crash: Drew Kimball, 44, Grahm Kimball, 12, Spencer Lindahl, 43, and Rustin Randall, 48. A teenager on board suffered burns but survived.

“Me and my family want answers about what happened,” Lorraine said.

‘My family is devastated. We are angry. We are confused. This shouldn’t have happened.’

Lorraine Longhi, his daughter, is now demanding answers about the fatal crash

Witnesses to the crash told police that a multimillion-dollar corporate jet never left the ground at Falcon Field after attempting to take off around 4:45 p.m.

She said her father had plans for the future when he was killed.

“My father had more life to live,” Lorraine said, adding that he wanted to spend more time with her and her brother, along with his wife and one-year-old grandson.

‘He had things he still wanted to do, that we still wanted to do with him.

“It’s so unfair and so senseless,” she said of the crash, “but at the same time I know my father wouldn’t want us to dwell on it and just sit in despair.”

She described her father in interviews as “larger than life,” recounting how he was adopted as an infant into an Italian-American family from Yonkers, New York and studied English for two years at the University of Arizona before transferring to the University of California. Berkley.

Ray eventually traveled to Taiwan, where he first met Ada Tsai, now 64. The two married in 1989 and started a family, but kept their adventurous spirit alive.

“There were weekends when I was growing up, my parents would wake me up and just say, ‘Hey, do you want to go to this new city today?’ You know, just because I could,” Lorraine told the Republic.

Ray met Ada Tsai during a trip to Taiwan, and the two married in 1989

Lorraine said her parents kept their adventurous spirit alive by taking her and her brother on weekend trips to different cities

She said her father was “so caring and so full of life,” noting that he texted her just before the accident asking, “Are you okay?”

Lorraine said it was something her father asked often.

“I just realized my dad wasn’t just asking if I was okay,” she said. “It was his way of saying he loved them, and I’m really glad we had a conversation right before it happened.”

“And I believe that he, you know, went down that path knowing that he was doing what he always did: taking care of his family,” she said, calling her father her hero.

“My father was just more than the way he died,” Lorraine emphasized to ABC 15. “The way he lived was just the most special thing I’ve ever had the privilege of experiencing.”

The Longhis are now asking anyone who would like to support their family to donate to the Sunshine Acres Children’s Home in Mesa, urging everyone to “take a moment to hug their father or their children.”