An Arizona businessman was killed alongside his wife when the small plane he was flying crashed on his way home from a Final Four tournament in Indianapolis.
Property developer Chris Sheafe was landing a Piper PA-32 single-engine plane at Marana airport last Wednesday when it slipped off the runway, bursting into flames, KOLD reported.
He was killed alongside his wife, Jacque, on their way home from watching the University of Arizona Wildcats basketball team in the Final Four tournament in Indianapolis.
“There is a small comfort in knowing they left this world together,” their wedding photographer, Echo Chanel Starmarker, said in a tribute on Instagram.
“United in love to the very end.”
As well as a property developer, Chris Sheafe was the treasurer of the Tucson investment group Rio Nuevo
“He loved life. He loved Jacque … and he loved to fly,” Rio Nuevo chair Fletcher McCusker said.
“As fellow pilots, we often talked about our love of flying and the fact that the sky is unforgiving.
“To say Chris is irreplaceable is an understatement, and we all need some time to grieve.”
McCusker ended his message with the Latin phrase, “Ars longa, vita brevis,” which translates as “Art is long, life is short.”
Congressman Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ) said Chris had “devoted decades to making the American dream reality as a homebuilder.”
“Chris was a dear friend – a wise and thoughtful man who generously shared his time with the people and causes he believed in,” he said.
“His work with organizations like Rio Nuevo, the Southern Arizona Homebuilders Association and the Tucson International Airport Authority was an expression of just how passionately he cared about the community he called home for the past 50 years.”
The plane left Springerville airport just 80 minutes before the crash, according to FlightAware data. It made a stop at Springerville after taking off from Elk City, Oklahoma, earlier in the day.
An investigation into the crash is underway.
