Skydiving plane crash tragedy at Caboolture: second incident for Adrenalin Skydivers since 2010

A COUPLE who were parents to six children among five victims of skydiving plane crash as it’s revealed same firm had an earlier crash.

A CLOSEKNIT Logan family were last night grappling with the loss of the couple killed in the Caboolture airport crash, who have left behind six young children.

Rahuia Hohua, 27, and her fiance Joey King, 32, were on tandem jumps aboard the skydiving plane that crashed shortly after taking off yesterday.

Five people — a pilot, two tandem instructors and Ms Hohua and Mr King — died when a Cessna 206 operated by Adrenalin Skydivers crashed during takeoff at the airstrip, 50km north of Brisbane.

Five dead as plane crashes and burns

Witnesses say the aircraft inexplicably “headed left’’ during lift-off and was at very low altitude when it plunged into the ground and burst into flames. There were no survivors.

The victims included experienced instructors Glenn Norman and Juraj Glesk, who had thousands of jumps under their belts, and Logan couple Rahuia Hohua and Joey King, who were parents to six children.

Mr Norman, a husband and father of two young girls, was also a full-time firefighter as station officer at Woodridge, whom friends said was ­always there to help others.

And it has emerged the skydiving firm involved in the fiery plane crash was involved in a similar incident in 2010, when seven people cheated death.

Adrenalin Skydivers, promoted locally as Skydive ­Bribie, was running the ill-fated operation. It uses Caboolture Airfield for pick-ups and conducts tandem jumps for tourists, who land on nearby Bribie Island.

The Sunday Mail can reveal Adrenalin Skydivers Pty Ltd also was the parent company involved in an accident where an aircraft being used by ­Skydive Central Queensland crashed in August 2010.

The Cessna 206 plane was experiencing engine trouble on takeoff before it crashed near Gladstone Airport.

A father and two sons, three tandem jump instructors and a pilot were on board, Adrenalin Skydivers reported to media at the time. Five people were injured and flown to Gladstone Hospital.

The head of the company, Paul Turner, was unavailable for comment yesterday.

The firm’s Geebung headquarters, filled with skydiving signage and vehicles, was in lockdown yesterday.

Couple were engaged to marry and excited about jump

Ms Hohua’s brother, Inia Hohua told The Sunday Mail the pair had been looking forward to the skydive, messaging each other on Facebook by the hour about their excitement.

He said Ms Hohua, a mum of two, and Mr King, a dad of three, had been together for just over two years and planned to marry.

“They were consumed by love. If you knew them you would have seen it,’’ Mr Hohua said.

Mr Hohua said family members had rushed from Logan and Beenleigh to Caboolture while police and aviation investigators examined the crash scene.

“I got a phone call from my mum and she said ‘Joey and Rahi have been in an accident in the plane,’’ he said at Caboolture airport late last night.

“Words fail ... honestly words fail and it’s just crushing.

Mr Hohua said the couple had been swapping Facebook messages saying how excited they were ahead of the planned skydive.

“All their Facebook posts were like ‘only an hour to go’ (before the jump today) and commenting to each other “are you nervous”.

“An almost an hour later you get a phone call.”

Mr Hohua said the close family were supporting each other.

``They were beautiful people, infectious,’’ he said.

``I know people always say “they were awesome” but it’s not just because she was my sister.

``We’re holding up all right — we’re still letting it all sink in but we’re all together in this and it’s changed my life today, crazy.

“Just cherish your family, cherish everything every second a chance you’ve got because not in my wildest dreams would I have thought this would have happened.

“We love you Rahi and Joey and until next time.”

Victims’ families struggle

Industry sources described the Caboolture crash as a ­terrible tragedy.

They said Mr Glesk had been working out of Bribie for about a year after previously being part of his brother Tibor’s Caloundra-based operation.

Tibor Glesk, an industry identity, was too distraught to speak yesterday as he struggled to come to terms with his younger brother’s death.

John Friswell, of Gatton-based Ripcord Skydivers, said he had known Mr Norman for many years.

He said his former employee and friend had juggled fire-fighting and skydiving.

“He was very much the gentleman skydiver, always caring towards his solo students. Glenn was a high quality instructor, skilled in solo and tandem jumps.”

Aero Dynamic Flight Academy managing director and Caboolture Airfield safety officer Bryan Carpenter said the aviation community was left shattered by the ­tragic accident.

Mr Carpenter said he had trained the pilot involved in the crash, who was a highly skilled and well-liked 24-year-old with around 600 hours under his belt as a sky-diving pilot.

“He was a very quiet unassuming sort of a lad, he was flying part time in order to pay for his degree,” he said.

“He was very, very skilled in those sky-diving operations because that’s what he’d been doing ever since he had his commercial licence, which is over two years now.”

Mr Carpenter said it was impossible to speculate as to the cause of the accident, but it could be anything from a bird going through the windscreen to a mechanical failure or a centre of gravity shift in the aircraft.

Craig McKinlay, 41, was working at a neighbouring waste plant 400m from where the plane hit the ground.

“I heard an enormous explosion and I turned around and a few seconds later … there was just this massive enormous red black fireball,” he said, adding that panels of the plane were flung 10m from the wreckage.

Mr McKinlay said staff at the airfield ran to help.

“They could only get so close because of the intense heat and flame,” he said.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating the crash.

Additional reporting Anthony Gough, Kay Dibben, Rose Brennan, Daniel Meers

News_Module: Join the conversation on Facebook