Family and friends are grieving the loss of two women killed in a plane crash on Saturday afternoon. Marnie Fuller, 36, of Walnut Grove and Jennifer Collins, 32, of Peculiar (a suburb of Kansas City) died in the crash just west of the Mount Vernon airport just after taking off for a parachute jump. The pilot is in serious condition after suffering critical injuries.

Both Fuller and Collins loved skydiving and were licensed in the adventurous sport. Marnie''''s father, who lives in Springfield, talked about her on Monday. Also, a reporter for a TV station interviewed a friend of Collins about her life.

It''''s still unclear exactly what happened to bring down the small plane of Freefall Express, the skydiving company based at the Mount Vernon airport. Neighbors of the airport heard a sickening thud when it crashed. The plane full of skydivers was going up for a routine jump but Fuller wouldn''''t make it off the plane.

"Nobody knows but three people what really happened," said Mike Hachtel, Fuller''''s father.



Hachtel says his daughter was an employee of Kraft Foods in Springfield but absolutely loved her other job as a skydiving coach.

"She loved skydiving. She loved that about as much as she loved her daughter," he said.

Hachtel says she spent every minute that she could with her 14-year-old daughter, Victoria.

"They had more than a mother-daughter relationship. They were friends, and they were buddies," said Hachtel.

Victoria routinely watched her mom go skydiving, and was learning the sport herself, learning how to pack parachutes.

"She was out there when it happened," said Hachtel.

The six women were planning a routine jump like the one seen below in a YouTube video of Collins'''' 50th jump last year. Collins had more than 200 jumps.

"Oh, she loved it. Every time she came in, she had pictures and she had to explain all her different jumps," said Douglas Short, chief of the West Peculiar Fire Department.

Collins was a paramedic at the West Peculiar Fire Department, a nurse for Children''''s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, and a Federal Aviation Administration-certified senior rigger with Freefall Express. Short says she was a tough-as-nails adventurer.

"She''''s a go-getter. She really liked to do things that were exciting," he said.

Now, the loved ones of both women must figure out how to go on without them.

"My daughter -- you never saw her without a smile on her face. She loved life. She lived life," said Hachtel.

But they consider both women heroes.