Hundreds gather to honor skydivers, pilot who died
Families, friends and members of the local skydiving community gathered at Snohomish High School on Saturday to memorialize 10 people who died earlier this month when their plane crashed into the Cascades.
The skydivers were remembered as courageous, hilarious, family-oriented and, mostly, passionate about their sport. The nine skydivers and their pilot were affiliated with Skydive Snohomish, a company that operates a training school and coordinates flights at Harvey Field in Snohomish.
Nearly 300 people in the school’s gym laughed and cried as they heard stories about the victims. The gym was silent as a string quartet, set up behind photos of the 10, played.
Those killed were Andy Smith, 20, of Lake Stevens; Hollie Rasberry, 24, of Bellingham; Casey Craig, 30, of Bothell; Michelle Barker, 22, of Kirkland; Bryan Jones, 34, of Redmond; Landon Atkin, 20, of Maltby; Jeff Ross, 28, of Snohomish; Ralph Abdo, 27, of Issaquah; Cecil Elsner, 20, of Lake Stevens; and pilot Philip Kibler, 46, of Troy, N.Y.
Taisha Atkin remembered her brother as “someone who loved life.”
“He did what he wanted to, and he never feared the consequences of his actions,” she said, adding that the same could be said of everyone else aboard the flight.
On the evening of Oct. 7, the Cessna Caravan 208 crashed about 45 miles west of Yakima near the Goat Rocks Wilderness Area. A hunter told officials he saw a low-flying plane that sounded like it had engine trouble. Then, the hunter reported, the engine went silent.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the plane flew through low clouds and low-level turbulence before crashing. Officials with the NTSB have said that a conclusion about what caused the crash could take months.
Kibler was flying from a skydiving event in Star, Idaho, to Shelton, Mason County, where the plane was based.
Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com