Steven SparkmanTerrifying photos surfaced over the weekend showing a skydiver and an airplane crashing into each other and plummeting to the ground. And the concesus from just about everyone is: You mean they both lived?
"It's hard to believe, when you see them, both the skydiver and the pilot, they survived this. The pilot's in the hospital, but just for observation."
The skydiver was taken to the hospital, where he was treated and released. (Via WFTS)
The accident happened Saturday when the pilot, an 87-year-old World War II veteran, performed a so-called "touch and go" landing, where the pilot takes off again after touching down. But on his third pass, his wing caught the skydiver's parachute cords, sending both of them crashing to the ground.
The Daily Mirror quotes the skydiver saying: "I'm lucky to still be here. It could have been much, much worse for me. ... As I came down all I could see was the spinning propeller and wanted to avoid that at all costs."
It may have just been a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But one of the local pilots told WFTS skydivers technically aren't supposed to land by that runway, but they do it anyway.
"For some residents of the nearby Southwind flying community, this accident comes as no surprise."
"We enjoy seeing them, but there is a safety zone that they're not supposed to be in."
And how about this for a final little bit of irony: WTSP points out the day of the accident was also the U.S. Parachute Association's Skydiving Safety Day. Of course it was.
