As Mr Welling prepared to go skydiving at Goulburn Airport, in southern NSW, on a Sunday morning in June 2021, he was seen excitedly laughing with his mates.
After getting paired-up with Mr Hoare, a tandem master who had completed more than 2300 jumps, the men playfully skipped towards the Cessna 182 that would take them 12,000 feet up.
But a series of avoidable safety breaches by airport owner Attilio Giovanni Ferrara and his company Goulburn Flight Training Centre violently cut their lives short.
Mr Hoare, 37, and Mr Welling, 32, fell about 100 metres to their deaths after their equipment became snagged on a makeshift metal step installed near the plane's wheel.
The training centre and its sole director Ferrara, also known as John Ferrara, were found guilty of serious workplace safety breaches in the NSW District Court in March.
Judge Andrew Scotting on Friday fined Ferrara a total of $150,000 and his company $100,000.
Ferrara was also ordered to pay 90 per cent of the prosecution's costs.
A lengthy trial was told the fabricated metal step had been recently installed on the plane to help skydivers launch, but had not been inspected or approved by an engineer.
Judge Scotting said Ferrara was aware the plane could not be legally flown without an engineering order, but failed to ensure the Cessna was not operated.
"The reasonable steps that Mr Ferrara should have taken to exercise due diligence were known to him, convenient and inexpensive," Judge Scotting said.
"The deaths of Mr Hoare and Mr Welling aggravate the seriousness of the offences."
The company also failed to ensure "buddy checks" were carried out before each flight, a measure that could have identified a loose strap on Mr Welling's harness.
The fines were well below maximum penalties of $1.7 million for each charge faced by the company and more than $350,000 for each of Ferrara's offences.
The judge found Ferrara had limited capacity to pay a fine, as both his flight school and skydiving business have shuttered.
During the trial, a short GoPro video taken by a third solo skydiver during the flight showed Mr Welling grinning and in high spirits as he moved towards the open door of the plane attached to Mr Hoare.
It then showed a black strap getting caught on the protruding step as they launched, flinging the pair upside-down.
The pilot attempted several manoeuvres to free the men, including flying low over the airport while staff on the ground stood on top of a four-wheel drive to try and grab them.
Ferrara issued a "sincere and unqualified" apology at an earlier court hearing.
Judge Scotting urged the Australian Parachute Federation, the national skydiving body, to introduce requirements for operators to prove they have implemented its safety procedure updates.
The federation had made "buddy checks" mandatory two months before the accident, but that change appeared to be poorly understand by operators.
While the Hoare family has called for an inquest into the deaths, the fathers of both men have said they hold no animosity for Ferrara.
"This speaks of a wisdom and kindness that is rare to find," Judge Scotting said.
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