Posted on 11/04/2013 2:21:56 PM PST by nickcarraway
Two single-engine aircraft carrying skydivers collided 12,000 feet above Superior, Wis., on Saturday evening, sending one plane plummeting to earth in flames – but all nine jumpers and both pilots survived, said one of the jumpers.
The only person injured, except for bumps and bruises, was the pilot of the plane that crashed. He used an emergency chute to escape the falling aircraft but suffered cuts, Mike Robinson, who was aboard that plane, told NBC News.
The incident occurred as a Cessna 185 was closely following a Cessna 182 for a maneuver called a tracking dive, Robinson said, in which a lead jumper is followed across the sky by the other jumpers.
Robinson, 64, of Duluth, Minn., said the weather was good – lingering clouds had dissipated. “The sun was just getting ready to set, it was our last load of the day,” he said. “It was just a perfect time to be up in the sky.”
Two groups of skydivers are thrilled to be back on solid ground after a frightening incident in the skies above Wisconsin Saturday night. NBC's Mara Schiavocampo reports.
He was one of four jumpers aboard the lead aircraft. All four were outside the door on the step ready to leap from 12,000 feet when the trailing plane collided with their aircraft – although Robinson said it is unclear just why that happened. The wings on his aircraft separated and the fuselage caught fire, and all four jumpers immediately leaped to safety.
The pilot had on an emergency parachute and was able to get out of the plummeting fuselage, although he suffered cuts to his hands and face, Robinson said. NBC station KJBR of Superior reported that he was taken by ambulance to a hospital, but Robinson said he did not seem too badly injured.
(Excerpt) Read more at usnews.nbcnews.com ...
Can’t wait for the GoPro evidence.
Wow! Talk about good news/bad news.
“Yes honey. The bad news is our plane got hit by another plane. The good news is we were all standing at the door with our chutes on ready to jump anyways.”
That must have seemed like a longer jump than usual, wondering what they would encounter on the ground, how many of their buddies might have died, etc.
“It was just a perfect time to be up in the sky.”
Well, kinda. LOL
Always had a bit of a problem parachuteing out if a perfectly good airplane. But Of course this is different.
I believe this fulfills one of your criteria...:)
I get sweaty palmed climbing up into a barber chair. Flying, maybe. Parachuting, not a chance
I had a discussion about this last week. I would sky dive before bungee jump. I like being in control and once you jump with a bungee one becomes the ball on a paddle ball and you just dance around hither and yon untill all the energy is depleted.
But you can “fly” a modern chute.
Still rather not do either.
Between both, I thought bungee was much more frightening. Your brain has a better grasp of ‘height’ when you can see the ground clearly - and (in my case) really refuses to let you jump (out of hot air balloon).
In skydiving, you are not so much jumping ‘high’ but rather ‘out’ - there is less of a frame of reference except for the plane door. Course, personally, I have bad knees and after 20 mins of kneeling on them during our ascent, all I wanted was to stretch my legs, even at 12K feet :-)
Both experiences highly recommended, if you are into that kind of thing.
Happier than....passengers in a plane collision...that happen to be skydivers with parachutes!
Interesting question, the pilot certainly but the jumpers
might not qualify for the Catepillar Club since they were
already outside the aircraft...?
You haven’t lived until you are down at 40 feet and see that it is raining up there. You don’t want to go up and get wet.
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