Nine skydivers miraculously survive after two planes collided at 12,000 feet, causing one of them to burst into flames. Watch the video of what happened after the collision.
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Skydiving instructor Mike Robinson was at 12,000 feet (3,600 meters), preparing to jump, when a second plane carrying other skydivers struck his aircraft.
All nine skydivers were sent tumbling toward the ground. But remarkably, none of them sustained any serious injury during the collision. Both pilots also managed to survive.
One of the light aircrafts did not fare so well: one lost a wing and burst into flames.
The cause of the incident in far northwest Wisconsin, near Lake Superior, is being investigated the Federal Aviation Administration.
Mr Robinson, an instructor and safety adviser for Skydive Superior, said the skydivers had gone up for their last jump of the day – called the “sunset load” – and the two planes were flying in formation. It was supposed to be a routine jump, and one that Mr Robinson was doing purely for fun – he usually dives as a trainer.
All of the skydivers were instructors or coaches and had hundreds, if not thousands, of jumps under their belts. It was Mr Robinson’s 937th jump, and he said: “We do this all the time. We just don’t know what happened for sure that caused this.”
Whenever the clouds and winds allow us to be up, we’ll be jumping. Mike Robinson
He and three other skydivers were in the lead plane, and all four had climbed out onto the step at the side of the Cessna 182 and were poised to jump. The plane behind theirs had five skydivers on board: three in position to jump and two more inside the plane, at the ready.
“We were just a few seconds away from having a normal skydive when the trail plane came over the top of the lead aircraft and came down on top of it,” he said. “It turned into a big flash fireball, and the wing separated.”
“All of us knew we had a crash… The wing over our head was gone, so we just left,” he added.
The three skydivers who were on the step of the second plane got knocked off upon impact, said Mr Robinson, and the two inside were able to jump. The pilot of Mr Robinson’s plane ejected himself, and the pilot of the second plane landed the aircraft safely at Richard I. Bong Airport, where it took off from.
Despite the scare, Mr Robinson said he would not hesitate to skydive again. “Whenever the clouds and winds allow us to be up, we’ll be jumping,” he said.