Skydiver Dies After Legs Severed in Midair

[kskiska]

DELAND, Fla. (AP) - A skydiving cinematographer was killed after his legs were severed in a midair collision with the airplane he had jumped from, authorities said.

Albert Wing III had already deployed his parachute Saturday when he struck the left wing of the DHC-6 Twin Otter propeller plane at about 600 feet, a witness on the ground told police.

Both of Wing's legs were severed at the knees, but he managed to maneuver his parachute and land near the DeLand Airport, about 40 miles north of Orlando, DeLand Police Cmdr. Randel Henderson said.

He was airlifted to a hospital, where he later died, Henderson said.

more…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-4960524,00.html

[ProudToBeLiberal]

1. sad just sad

:(

[evlbstrd]

2. And his name is an unfortunate coincidence.

It is sad.

[Placebo]

3. That's sad...

and it's also extremely rare.

So to all of my DU brothers and sisters, I ask you...

Who wants to go skydiving with me?

Anyone?

Anyone?

:hide:

[bling bling]

4. The plane was flying at 600 feet? Wonder why.

I skydived a couple of times. The plane dropped us off at 13,000 feet.

[LiberallyInclined]

7. the plane may have been headed for a landing-

after having deployed the divers.
considering his occupation, i was wondering if he may have been trying to do something out of the ordinary, filming-wise...but the article says that no camera was found.

[bling bling]

10. Good point.

Or maybe the plane had a cameraman on board filming the skydiver.

[LiberallyInclined]

5. they said that no camera was found-

but i gotta wonder if, considering his profession, if he was maybe trying to film the plane headed right for him, when- "things went horribly awry" ?

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Rainscents]

9. Oh Man... gives me crip

[Rainscents]

8. This is horrible way to die.

:cry:

[PartyPooper]

11. This incident gives new meaning to "A wing and a prayer."

O8)

[oldtime dfl_er]

12. That's just horrible

on the list of "crappy ways to die" that one is right up there with "eaten by wild animals" (my personal worst).

www.cafepress.com/showtheworld

[Mechatanketra]

14. Not to sink into black humor, but ...

I'm curious whenever I hear that phrase -- are we implying it'd be somehow qualifiably better to be eaten by tame animals?

Just a edge of midnight thought.

[melnjones]

20. good point!

Never thought of that.

[oldtime dfl_er]

24. or "being nibbled to death by ducks"

I always thought that was a funny.


www.cafepress.com/showtheworld

[DoNotRefill]

13. Eagles soar, but a weasel....

will never get sucked into a jet engine...

[bbernardini]

15. Any info on his age, or his father?

Frank Zappa had an Albert Wing in his 1988 band. I'm wondering if they're one and the same or a relation.

[oblivious]

16. Yeah my brother keeps telling me how safe skydiving is.

But he's had two accidents putting him in hospital and can't get anyone to give him life insurance.

"Oh no, it's completely safe," he keeps telling me.

[ElectroPrincess]

17. Id rather have my main and reserve chutes fail to deploy ...

than having such a trauma ... then floating to the ground for a minute or two as your life's blood gushes out of you.

Yes, going "splat" would only look worse to those who had to scrap you up ... BUT you wouldn't feel a thing in just one fleeting split second after impact. <--- Much preferable IMO - to go "splat" have what's left of you squeegeed into a body bag than watch yourself bleed to death. Double Yuck!

BTW is there a Choice C ? <eg>

RIP dear Mr. Albert Wing, III.

Hope you get the A-ticket straight to Heaven.

What a hell-of-va way to die! <sad sigh>

[deadparrot]

18. Good lord. What a scary way to go. nt

[montana_hazeleyes]

19. What a terrifying way to die!

Poor man. I feel so bad for him. And it must have been horrifying to the witnesses.

[0rganism]

21. Is it any surprise that this happened in Florida?

On the upside, at least Albert Wing III died doing what he loved.

[arikara]

22. I saw something similar happen

many years ago when I used to skydive. Our regular pilot wasn't available so we had a guy who had never flown skydivers before. Several people jumped including a woman who was doing her first jump and she was using one of the old round canopies. The jump master went last, but he was using a faster square parachute. The pilot flew around until he saw the jump master land not realizing that the slower round canopy was still coming down right over the runway which he couldn't see. He hit the risers just above her head with the wing, flipping her over top of the wing but the plane was nearly on the ground so it just hit the ground hard and spun around with a crumpled wing. She was knocked unconscious for a few seconds and spent the night in the hospital but incredibly had no injuries.

[DoNotRefill]

25. That reminds me of a song from long ago...

"There was blood upon the risers, there was blood upon the chute..."

Damn, I'm old.

[Az]

23. Trying to figure out how it happened

One would assume that if he had deployed the chute he had descended some distance already. Thus the plane should not be in the area. Did the plane circle around or something? This sounds like there had to be some human error involved.