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

Lorraine Longhi said the tragic irony of the death of her father, Ray Longhi, 67, 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,” said Lorraine Longhi.

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 father 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 whole world,” she said. “He was really so caring and so full of life.”

She said she was on her way to Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport to pick up her 35-year-old wife from work when the plane collided with his car.

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

Ray Longhi and four others on board the plane died in the crash. An 18-year-old survivor suffered burns.

Lorraine Longhi says she spoke to her father just before the accident.

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

“I realize that, you know, my dad doesn’t just ask if people are okay. It was his way of saying he loved them and I’m so glad we had a conversation just moments before it happened,” said Lorraine Longhi. “And I think he was, you know, going down that path knowing he was doing what he always did, which was take care of his family.”

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

Meanwhile, Lorraine Longhi does her best to move on without him and focus on the memories of laughter she shares with her hero.

“That joy, I think, is just something that will be missed and will never be replaced,” Lorraine Longhi said.

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

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

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