DELAND, Florida (AP) -- A skydiver lost both his legs when he struck the wing of a plane as he came down and later died from his injuries, officials said.

Cinematographer Albert "Gus" Wing III had already opened his parachute when he hit the plane that he had jumped from Saturday morning over an airport in DeLand, central Florida, police said. His legs were severed at the knees.

He was taken to a hospital, where he later died.

Fourteen other skydivers were in the air at the time of the accident, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Holly Baker said. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board were investigating.

Mike Johnston, general manager of Skydive DeLand, said the accident was not common.

"There are about 15 million jumps every year," Johnston told The Daytona Beach News-Journal. "I only know of one other case where a sky diver was struck by an airplane."
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Dang! That had to hurt like a *bleep*! I would have just cut the chute... better to go quick.

Remind me not to go skydiving. What a freakish accident though. I wonder how you can hit the plane after you jump out of it? Wouldn't you be at some point BELOW the plane?

That's what I'm wondering. How can you hit the same plane you jumped from?
Obviously the dude flying the plane didn't know what he was doing because he went under the skydivers? Or am I confused here?

<--scratching sky-diving off my list of things to do....

did he hit the same plane or another plane?

Seriously, how does that work anyway??

Same. That's what it says!

maybe the plane went down and turned around and hit him? lol i donno but thats messed up

Yeah, which is why I think that the pilot didn't know what the heck he was doing and it cost someone their life!

ok heres the deal i was their i was his and his wifes parachute rigger he didnt hit the plane the plane hit him his canopy was open everything was good till the f@#%ing pilot cliped him with the planes wing and now one of the worlds best skydiving videographers is gone he should have had his pilots ticket revoked then he should had been beaten with a big stick by every skydiver on the dz we all miss gus
now you all know what really happend


baseace

^
Ok...?
Somehow I highly doubt it...
Old thread BTW...

maybe he opened the parachute too early, make the wind lifted him above the plane ? but i dont think that kind of crash can severe both legs




ops. sorry i miss your post. thank your explain.

We are not birds . If we were to fly , we would have developed wings .

I will not skydive

I lol'd and then thanked the heavens for necroposters.
The skydiver and/or his team should have been more cautious from the beginning in addition to paying more attention to their surroundings.

I don't envy the person who had to clean that mess up.

this story reminded me of a section in a website that another member posted a few weeks ago.

it bad enough when birds hit a plane-but just imagine being a pilot and someone smacks into you...yikes

anyways, heres some bird damage http://www.2spare.com/item_93582.aspx

Good grief. This thread is 3 year olds. I hate necro posting.

hello all i wish to set this matter to rest once and for all it was not gus`s fault it was the pilot and money skydive deland is mecca to most all skydivers
the world over the plane more often than not beats the jumpers to the ground for the next jump the faster the plane gets down the faster it can go back up and at 20-25 bucks a head
is all about turn over it was bound to happen eventually the owner bob halett is a greedy greedy man but im sure he misses gus as much as the rest of
us you can rest assured that the faa crawled up his ass with a microscope also the planes dosent fly the radical desent path like they used to

baseace

I agree, btw, I love that avatar..Rotts are the best..

Just horrible! Thanks for sharing that.

OMG .. forgot to check the date when im posting here you're right ! this old !!

OMG......... I dont reckon something like that would tickle very much, let alone the adrenaline and fear kicking just before the sudden impact. Terrible way to die.

Thats just messed up.