Hawaii skydiving crash victims included young couple, sailor

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Hawaii skydiving crash victims included young couple, sailor

2019-06-26 08:44 Last Updated At：08:50

All 11 people on board a skydiving plane died when it crashed and burned at a small airfield north of Honolulu last week. It was the worst civilian aviation accident in the U.S. since 2011.

The Honolulu Medical Examiner's office has identified seven of victims, including a young couple from Colorado celebrating their first wedding anniversary, several skydiving instructors and a Navy sailor. Family members have confirmed the deaths of two others.

JOSHUA DRABLOS

The Navy said Lt. Joshua Drablos, 27, was "an invaluable member" of the U.S. Fleet Cyber Command, based in Kunia, Hawaii.

Drablos was a 2015 graduate of the Naval Academy where he studied quantitative economics, reported the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland.

Rory Quiller coached Drablos in track and field during his four years at the academy. He said Drablos had a passion for everything he did.

"Josh had an immediate and profound impact on people," said Quiller, a volunteer assistant track and field coach.

Quiller said the team always had Drablos take recruits around the academy because his personality would get them fired up about being there.

WSET in Lynchburg, Virginia reported Drablos was a skilled pole vaulter at Jefferson Forest High School in Forest, Virginia.

His former high school coach, Michael Parker, said Drablos was fearless, fast and always up for an adventure.

NIKOLAS GLEBOV

The 28-year-old worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on board a fisheries survey ship based in Kodiak, Alaska, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported .

NOAA spokesman David Hall told the newspaper Glebov was a general vessel assistant on the NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson.

The Honolulu Medical Examiner's office said Glebov was from St. Paul, Minnesota.

DANIEL HERNDON

The Oklahoma native worked as a skydiving instructor at Oahu Parachute Center.

Stacy Richmond told KTUL in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that her brother passed away doing what he loved.

"He told me when we were kids that he wanted to skydive when he grew up, and it's what he loved to do," she said.

She said Herndon's wife, Natt, would be spreading his ashes in the ocean because he loved the water.

Oahu Parachute Center's website said Herndon had over 10 years of experience and had completed 4,000 jumps. He was a certified instructor and videographer. The website said he enjoyed sharing the sport with others, exploring the islands and scuba diving.

Herdon's family plans a private memorial skydive in his honor. A public memorial service is scheduled for July 1 in Oklahoma.

MICHAEL MARTIN

The 32-year-old skydiving instructor also taught kite surfing.

His girlfriend, Alex Nakao, visited a growing memorial near the crash site over the weekend, Hawaii News Now reported .

"He did get stressed out at work sometimes, but he loved what he did," she said. "He died doing what he loved."

JORDAN TEHERO

Jordan Tehero, a 23-year-old from the Hawaii island of Kauai, took up skydiving a few years ago as a distraction from the breakup of a relationship, his father, Garret Tehero, said. Then his son "went and fell in love" with the sport, he said.

His parents were both worried about his new hobby.

"Because of our fear, we wanted him to stop," the father said. "But he didn't have the fear that we had, so he just continued."

Any fears he may have had were taken care of with prayer. "He always told me, 'Dad, I pray before every flight, before every jump I pray,' " the father said.

ASHLEY and BRYAN WEIKEL

The Colorado Springs, Colorado couple were celebrating their first wedding anniversary at the time of the crash.

Relatives told KCNC-TV that Bryan and Ashley Weikel were really excited to go skydiving but Bryan's mother, Kathy Reed-Gerk, said she had begged him not to go. Bryan was 27, and Ashley was 26 years old.

They posted images on social media leading up to the flight, including a final post of a video of the plane pulling up to them. The family says the tail number on the plane in the video matched that of the one that crashed.

Bryan's brother Kenneth Reed wrote on Facebook that his brother was "the absolute best person in the world" and that his wife was his "identical soul mate."

CASEY WILLIAMSON

Casey Williamson's love of adventure led him to winter snowboarding in Vail, Colorado, and summer skydiving in Moab, Utah. A year-and-a-half ago, he found his way to Hawaii, where he could skydive year-round.

The 29-year-old was his mother Carla Ajaga's only child, his cousin Natacha Mendenhall said.

"We're all very upset," said Mendenhall, speaking from her home in Fort Worth, Texas. "She cannot really talk right now. What she wants everyone to know is how full of life her son was, how loving he was."

Williamson, who was from Yukon, Oklahoma, worked as an instructor and as a videographer who filmed customers as they dove. He was trying to earn more jumping hours and learn the trade, Mendenhall said.

The Honolulu Medical Examiner's office hasn't identified Williamson. But his family provided Honolulu police with Williamson's name and date of birth, and the police confirmed he was on the flight, Mendenhall said.

Associated Press writers Rachel D'Oro in Anchorage, Alaska, Colleen Slevin in Denver and AP Researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.

Severe storms batter the Midwest, including reported tornadoes that shredded a FedEx facility

2024-05-08 21:10 Last Updated At：21:21

DETROIT (AP) — Severe storms barreled through the Midwest early Wednesday, a day after two reported tornadoes struck one Michigan city and destroyed homes and commercial buildings, including a FedEx facility.

Tornadoes were first reported after dark Tuesday in parts of Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, while portions of Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri were also under a tornado watch, according to the National Weather Service. The storms came a day after a deadly twister ripped through an Oklahoma town.

As the storms raged on in the pre-dawn hours Wednesday, the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh warned that a tornado in northeastern Ohio could cross into Pennsylvania. Parts of West Virginia were also under a tornado warning.

Hancock County Schools in West Virginia closed schools Wednesday because of “extensive overnight weather issues” in the county. News outlets reported damaged buildings and power outages.

Hours earlier in southwestern Michigan, two reported tornadoes blitzed the city of Portage near Kalamazoo on Tuesday night, destroying homes and commercial buildings, including a FedEx facility that was ripped apart.

No serious injuries were immediately reported, but city officials said in a news release that the twisters knocked out power to more than 20,000 people. Most of them would be without power until late Wednesday, city officials said.

At one point, about 50 people were trapped inside the FedEx facility because of downed power lines. But company spokesperson Shannon Davis said late Tuesday that “all team members are safe and accounted for.”

More than 30,000 customers were without power in Michigan early Wednesday, and an additional 10,000 in Ohio, according to PowerOutage.us.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency for four counties.

“My heart goes out to all those impacted by tonight’s severe weather in southwest Michigan,” Whitmer said in a message on social media. “State and local emergency teams are on the ground and working together to assist Michiganders.”

National Weather Service crews were working Wednesday to survey storm damage in several counties in Michigan’s southwest Lower Peninsula to determine whether tornadoes touched down in those areas, including the two reported Tuesday night in the city of Portage, said meteorologist Mike Sutton with the weather service’s Grand Rapids office.

He said the Grand Rapids office had received a total of 11 reports of tornadoes from storm spotters, emergency managers and the public from late Tuesday afternoon into Tuesday night, but as of 8 a.m. Wednesday, it had not confirmed any tornado touchdowns.

Sutton said it could be a couple days before the storm surveys are completed and he stressed that some of the tornado reports could be duplicate reports passed along by people who saw the same storm.

“It’s quite possible those are multiple reports from the same tornado. The actual number of tornadoes may be lower depending on what they find when they’re out surveying,” he said.

Tuesday's storms came a day after parts of the central United States were battered by heavy rain, strong winds, hail and twisters. Both the Plains and Midwest have been hammered by tornadoes this spring.

Across the U.S., the entire week is looking stormy. The Midwest and the South are expected to get the brunt of the bad weather through the rest of the week, including in Indianapolis, Memphis, Nashville, St. Louis and Cincinnati — cities where more than 21 million people live. It should be clear over the weekend.

On Monday night, a deadly twister in Oklahoma tore through the 1,000-person town of Barnsdall. At least one person was killed and another was missing. Dozens of homes were destroyed.

Aerial videos showed homes reduced to piles of rubble and others with roofs torn off. The twister tossed vehicles, downed power lines and stripped limbs and bark from trees across the town. A 160-acre (65-hectare) wax manufacturing facility in the community also sustained heavy damage.

It was the second tornado to hit Barnsdall in five weeks — a twister on April 1 with maximum wind speeds of 90 to 100 mph (145 to 161 kph) damaged homes and blew down trees and power poles.

At the Hampton Inn in nearby Bartlesville, several splintered two-by-fours were driven into the building. Chunks of insulation, twisted metal and other debris were scattered over the lawn, and vehicles in the parking lot were heavily damaged, with blown-out windows.

Hotel guest Matthew Macedo said he was ushered into a laundry room to wait out the storm.

“When the impact occurred, it was incredibly sudden,” he said.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, who toured the twister's damage Tuesday, said it was rated by weather researchers as a violent tornado with winds reaching up to 200 mph (322 kph). Stitt said he and legislative leaders have agreed to set aside $45 million in this year’s budget to help storm-damaged communities.

Areas in Oklahoma, including Sulphur and Holdenville, are still recovering from a tornado that killed four and left thousands without power late last month.

Murphy reported from Oklahoma City. Associated Press journalists around the country contributed to this report, including Rio Yamat, Heather Hollingsworth, Colleen Slevin, Jim Salter, Kathy McCormack, Sarah Brumfield and Beatrice Dupuy.

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