Two small planes packed with skydivers collided over Wisconsin Saturday evening just before all nine jumpers and a pilot parachuted to safety.
The second pilot operating one of the two Cessnas in Superior was able to land his plane safely, despite the fiery impact some 12,000 feet in the air according to officials with Skydive Superior.
Mike Robinson, a skydiving instructor who was caught standing outside his aircraft with three others when the trailing plane struck, recalled the moment his Cessna 182's right wing ripped off, "in a ball of fire."
"There was no warning, it was just a huge loud bang and the wing was gone and we were in free fall. It just happened," he described the mid-air collision to the Daily News.
If he and his plane’s crew weren’t already safely strapped into their chutes, he said, all four of them would have faced certain death.
What we were hanging onto was gone, the strut was gone," he explained. "We didn’t jump; it was just taken away from us."
The four passengers were flung into a free fall as the plane spiraled away from them, its pilot momentarily trapped inside.
"He was fortunate enough to get his seatbelt off, get out of the airplane and activate his emergency chute," he said of that pilot.
The five jumpers on the second plane, a Cessna 185, were also able to jump to safety.
Remarkably, as a "tribute to his skill," according to Robinson, its pilot was able to safely land his damaged plane at the Superior Airport.
Everyone on board both planes escaped largely uninjured despite the incredible crash.
The pilot of the Cessna 182 was hospitalized for minor injuries after sustaining cuts to his hands.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/skydive-planes-collide-live-bailing-life-article-1.1505341#ixzz2jdVvUAEs
That had to be such a scary accident but everyone remained calm and all survived with just minor injuries.
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