Skydiver Dies After Hitting Plane's Wing

[michaels601]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,154470,00.html

Skydiver Dies After Hitting Plane's Wing
Sunday, April 24, 2005

DELAND, Fla. — A skydiving cinematographer was killed after his legs were severed in a midair collision with the airplane he had jumped from, authorities said.

Albert Wing III had already deployed his parachute Saturday when he struck the left wing of the DHC-6 Twin Otter (search) propeller plane at about 600 feet, a witness on the ground told police.

Both of Wing's legs were severed at the knees, but he managed to maneuver his parachute and land near the DeLand Airport (search), about 40 miles north of Orlando, DeLand Police Cmdr. Randel Henderson said.

He was airlifted to a hospital, where he later died, Henderson said.

Fourteen other skydivers were in the air at the time of the accident, Federal Aviation Administration (search) spokeswoman Holly Baker said. The plane landed safely.

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board were investigating.

Authorities said they were not certain whether Wing had been filming at the time of the accident and no camera was found

holy crap.

 

[HAL Pilot]

I flight instructed at DED back in late 1998. At the time, I was the only instructor based at the field (out of AeroMasters - long out of business) and very few ERAU, Comair, Phoenix East or others came to the field. There was never more than 2 or 3 in the pattern and a lot of times I was the only one. This was well before the TAB and RAA days. I left early 1999 for Vegas and canyon flying.

The dropzone was actually next to the airfield but the skydivers were always landing centerfield between the runways. You would have them dropping around you while in the pattern and on the runways. Whenever I got mad and talked to Skydive DeLand about it, their response was "don't worry about the sky divers. They are very manueverable and will get out of your way. Just fly your plane/pattern as normal and ignore us."

I'm not surprised this happened. Too many jumpers mixing with too many aircraft, especially as flight training at DED increased.

 

[VetteMuscle427]

The dropzone was actually next to the airfield but the skydivers were always landing centerfield between the runways. You would have them dropping around you while in the pattern and on the runways. Whenever I got mad and talked to Skydive DeLand about it, their response was "don't worry about the sky divers. They are very manueverable and will get out of your way. Just fly your plane/pattern as normal and ignore us."

Skydivers take right of way over a powered aircraft....

Saying that... I have my own thoughts on whose fault this incident was. Gus probably entered a high performance landing sequence from about 1000'; this means a lot of spiraling down to gain speed. He probably smacked into the Otter w/o the pilot ever seeing him.

The pilots out at DeLand are great... the most dangerous thing I have seen with regards to the mix of skydivers and aircraft relates to skydivers on the ground being pulled by the wind towards active runways.

There is plenty of sky.... we can all share it.

 

[Godspeed]

Gus was an experienced and well known throughout the skydiving community as an amazing cinematographer. He was a mentor and coach to several members of our skydiving club. Both him and the pilot were close friends. They were both safety conscious individuals, and this truly was a "freak" accident.

The pilot was nicknamed "books" by several of the skydivers out in deland, for his strict adhesion to FAA guidelines and safety precautions. He has been flying skydivers for over thirty years.

Gus preached safety and awareness to all the skydivers he coached at deland and other dropzones. At some 10,000+ jumps, Gus was nothing short of a professional skydiver.

From an aerial standpoint, sometimes it does seem crazy out there. As a student skydiver, I am restricted to landing soley in the center field between runways in Deland. It is our job as skydivers to know which runways are active, the wind direction, and identify local traffic. It is the job of the pilot to know where the skydivers are. The game is about situational awareness on both ends.

These individuals were both HIGHLY skilled, and sometimes bad things happen despite the precautions we take. Who do we "blame?" No one. This accident was no ones fault, and by nature, truly was a freak accident.

 

[VetteMuscle427]

Have you looked into whether or not you're even allowed to be skydiving as a BDCPer?

In short... Yes, but don't get hurt.

It is up to your command whether you can jump or not as a BDCP student; but if you do get hurt, you reap the consequences. My chief is pretty hard-core (HMC-FMF) and he doesn't mind it.

Skydiving was a big part of my BDCP application. I am the president of the skydiving club, and skydiving builds many traits in a person (self reliance, trust, responsibility, etc).

 

[haze748]

thats where i did my first solo, its a tad sketchy there

 

[ControlledBurn]

It's a good airport....provided it's not the weekend and there aren't any jumpers, otherwise, stay away in my opinion. Even without the jumpers, that place is always busy. I remember being on a 10 mile final in the pattern at one point because there were so many people out flying at the airport. And this was before the towers at EVB and OMN were opened. Going over there at night is quite fine though, usually very little traffic if any at all.