Tommy Jacomini loved the freedom he felt behind the controls of his Cessna 182 and enjoyed sharing the four-seater with his wife and two children.
“He loved to fly the plane. That was his hobby. They would fly from here to New York and over there to Colorado,” said Lillia Canales, the housekeeper for the Houston gas-company executive.
On Friday, Jacomini, 45, his wife, Susie, 38, and their children, Thomas, 8, and Vivi, 5, took off from Steamboat Springs, where Susie’s family has a house.
A family member reported them missing Saturday morning. A hiker spotted the plane’s wreckage in steep terrain about 85 miles southeast of Steamboat Springs on Sunday.
All four members of the family, who were returning to their ranch in Branham, Texas, died in the crash.
Canales’ daughter, who was a babysitter for the two children, frequently flew with the family, she said.
“They were a sweet family, loving people,” said Canales.
Jacomini was an executive with Sempra Energy Trading Corp. Relatives said he was an experienced pilot used to navigating through the mountainous areas that may have been on his route, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Flying over such terrain poses challenges that pilots don’t ordinarily face, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Alan Kenitzer.
“You have a load of gas, four seats — it can be very difficult to climb rapidly to get over the mountains,” he said.
The Cessna 182 that Jacomini was piloting was only four years old and is a “great” aircraft, Kenitzer said.
Officials said Jacomini didn’t file a flight plan and that no distress call was received.
Pilots of small planes aren’t required to file flight plans, but the FAA recommends that they do, especially if the weather is bad, as it was when the Jacominis took off, Kenitzer said.
“We believe it is a good safety measure,” he said. “Then the search crew knows the route they took.”
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
