‘My dad was my hero:’ Daughter grieves loss of father killed after jet plane crashed into his car

MESA, Ariz. (KPHO/Gray News) — An Arizona family is mourning the loss of a father who was killed after a small jet plane crashed into his car last Tuesday.

Lorraine Longhi said the tragic irony of the death of her father, 67-year-old Ray Longhi, is that he loved aviation and traveling the world.

“My dad was my hero, you know, and I know he wasn’t just my hero. He was my brother’s hero and a hero to his younger brother and sister,” Lorraine Longhi said.

Ray Longhi was killed by a plane during an aborted takeoff just blocks from his home near Falcon Field Airport in Mesa.

Lorraine Longhi said she remembers her dad as a gentle giant and continues to look up to him, admiring his generous and adventurous nature.

“My dad was a real Rolling Stone, you know. He just wanted to see the entire world,” she said. “He really was so caring and so full of life.”

She said he was heading to Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport to pick his wife of 35 years up from work when the plane collided with his car.

“When I heard it was an accident I think I just assumed it was a car accident, but when I found out that there was a plane involved, I think it was just so difficult to wrap my head around,” she said.

Ray Longhi and four others onboard the jet were killed in the crash. One 18-year-old survivor suffered burn injuries.

Lorraine Longhi says she spoke with her dad right before the accident.

He had texted her, “Everything OK?” She said it’s a phrase he often asks his loved ones.

“I’m just realizing that, you know, my dad wasn’t just asking if people were OK. It was his way of saying that he loved them, and I’m really glad that we had a conversation just moments before it happened,” Lorraine Longhi said. “And I believe that he was, you know, heading down that road knowing that he was doing what he always did which was taking care of his family,”

Grief has consumed their family since the loss of the father and grandfather.

In the meantime, Lorraine Longhi is doing her best to carry on without him and focus on the memories of laughter she shares with her hero.

“That joy, I think, is just something that is going to be missed, and it’s never going to be replaced,” Lorraine Longhi said.

Ray Longhi himself was adopted into a loving family as a baby and looked for ways to give back to foster children, including donating to Sunshine Acres Children’s Home in Mesa.

Lorraine Longhi asks anyone who wants to support their family during this time to do the same in his honor.