Deland Airport Accident

[mnixon]

Apparently at 930 this morning a jump plane clipped a skydiver on his way down. Sounds as if the legs, or leg of the jumper was amputated in the accident. Jumper was revived on the scene and taken to the hospital. That is all I know as of right now.

 

[say again]

Those dang sky bombs!! Hope he's well.

 

[NuGuy]

Ouch. That stinks.

There was an accident a few years ago where a skydiver hit an operationally un-related Cherokee on the way down. The PA-28s stabilator hit him, and shattered his leg/ankle, but he landed ok and was otherwise unharmed.

OTOH, the impact took the stab off the Cherokee and all four in the plane died from the resulting out of control dive.

As Ernie Gann said: "Fate is the Hunter"...

Nu

 

[PCL_128]

I'm surprised more accidents don't happen at Deland. That place is a disaster waiting to happen. You get to peak hours in the afternoon and there can be dozens of Riddle and Comair students in the pattern at the same time, some of them not talking and making weird pattern entries. I avoided that place as much as possible.

 

[FN FAL]

As Ernie Gann said: "Fate is the Hunter"...

Nu

What drop zone does Ernie Gann skydive at?

 

[User546]

Well certainly our best wishes and speedy recovery to the skydiver in this incident. An amputation would be a horribly bad thing to have to go thru, but he should count himself lucky that things didn't go worse!

Be careful out there around drop zones, whether your participating or not!

 

[mnixon]

I havent heard any more as of yet, but remember that he had to be revived at the scene, so I am guessing that he is not "well" and wont be for a while. I mirror the sentiment that DED is an accident waiting to happen. There have been times where a go around would have ended badly due to jumpers over the runway. Its a small sky at times and we gotta share it.

 

[EDUC8-or]

I was with a student doing practice approaches and ATC kept us above 2,500' on the VOR 23 due to the accident.

I've been in the pattern at DED and skyidvers have crossed the active runway while taking off or on short final. I've also seen jumpers on days when they must have done some pretty amazing maneuvers to stay out of the clouds on the way down.

I will no longer do pattern work at DED during the day.

 

[NuGuy]

DED is an accident that already happened... lost two instructors and two students in a Mid-Air there back in (I think) 2000 or 2001.

When I lived in DAB in 91, DED already had a reputation for requiring A LOT of vigilance.

Nu

 

[avbug]

I had a "near miss" with a cherokee at DeLand about six years ago, while I was under canopy. I was on a skydive, below 500', and I could have sworn the cherokee decided he was going to have some fun at my expense. I was landing at the DZ, and he made a low pass, left the runway environment, and shot underneath me as I was setting up to land. It was close enough my canopy partially collapsed in his wake (more than you might think from even a cherokee). To say the least, I was disappointed in that pilot's behavior.

 

[NuGuy]

Yup, both are Class D. So alot of the pilots who are "afraid" of towers (or just like being dicks and not using the radio) migrated to DeLand and Flagler.

This wouldn't have to do with the engrish that some training pilots "read, speak and understand" would it?

Nu

 

[AviatrixMorgan]

DED is an accident that already happened... lost two instructors and two students in a Mid-Air there back in (I think) 2000 or 2001.

I'm assuming you are referring to the Dec 99 one. Riddle and Phoenix East. The Riddle student was one of my boyfriend's best friends.

 

[AviatrixMorgan]

Posted 4/23/2005 4:02:00 PM
Skydiving Accident

​

Skydiver Loses Legs to Plane in Freak DeLand Accident

There was a freak accident in the skies over Volusia County today.

A plane collided with a parachuter in mid-air this morning near the DeLand airport.

Police say that Albert Wing III, 50, was parachuting about 600 feet above ground and preparing to land when the very plane he had just jumped out of clipped him with a wing.

Commander Randel Henserdon of DeLand police told News 13, "From what witnesses are saying, at about 600 feet the airplane and the skydiver just seemed to cross paths for some reason."

Both of his legs were severed at the knees, but he still landed and was conscious.

He's was rushed to Halifax Regional Medical Center, where he remains in stable condition.

Wea re told that both Wing and William Buchmann, who was piloting the plane, are very experienced in the sport and well known at SkyDive DeLand. Police say Buchmann has been flying for 40 years.

Staff at SkyDive DeLand remain stunned, saying safety is what they're known for.

Mike Johnston of SkyDive DeLand said, "That's one of the major focuses of Skydive DeLand, and the whole skydiving community in DeLand."

FAA is investigating in incident.







For more information tune to Central Florida News 13. Only on Bright House Networks.Copyright © 2005Central Florida News 13. All right reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

 

[PIREP]

Agreed. All senses have to be in high alert at this airport. (It's identifier isn't D-E-D for nothing). I remember while on an FAA commercial ride getting diverted there. On base leg, making all of the proper calls(extra, extra cautious since on my ride), when all of a sudden hear a radio call about a twin otter on final for the active. Didn't see the plane anywhere until I looked up. Making a dive bombing final(from altitude I presume) was the jump plane at about 3500' while pointing straight at the ground for the active runway. Immediately turned back to the downwind. The FAA examiner asked why I did that. I just pointed up. It scared the cr@p out of him. All he said was "smart move". He was cursing about him the rest of the ride. Also had to dodge numerous skydivers there. I swear some of those guys turn back to the runway just to play chicken with you and then turn away at the last moment. Actually knowing some of the guys that jump up there, I wouldn't put it past them to play chicken. They are out for the adrenalin rush. Scary place if it's busy.

 

[kevdog]

Hey, just curious why if Deland is such a danger zone (DZ?), being one of the world's biggest skydiving dropzones, that something like this has never happened before? I have many jumps at Deland and used to be a jump pilot at numerous DZ's. I think the most dangerous activities happening at DED, are all the dumb a$$ ERAU pilots. Please remember, skydivers in the air have just as much of a right as you do flyin an airplane. Over half of the jumpers at Deland are professionals or on world class skydiving teams and make over a 1,000 jumps a year there. 75% of the skydiving industry is also based in Deland. About 800-1,000 jumps take place every single sunny day in Deland. I seriously doubt aircraft landings even come close to that figure. If you are an inexperienced pilot and are afraid of jumpers being included in your airspace, you can simply avoid places like DED, it's marked as a parachuting center.

 

[GravityHater]

Just heard on the diver forum that the jumper has passed away. RIP and may we all learn something from it that will prevent it from happening again.

 

[mnixon]

Hey, just curious why if Deland is such a danger zone (DZ?), being one of the world's biggest skydiving dropzones, that something like this has never happened before? I have many jumps at Deland and used to be a jump pilot at numerous DZ's. I think the most dangerous activities happening at DED, are all the dumb a$$ ERAU pilots. Please remember, skydivers in the air have just as much of a right as you do flyin an airplane. Over half of the jumpers at Deland are professionals or on world class skydiving teams and make over a 1,000 jumps a year there. 75% of the skydiving industry is also based in Deland. About 800-1,000 jumps take place every single sunny day in Deland. I seriously doubt aircraft landings even come close to that figure. If you are an inexperienced pilot and are afraid of jumpers being included in your airspace, you can simply avoid places like DED, it's marked as a parachuting center.

I agree that we need to share airspace, but both need to see and avoid. I've had meat rockets look right at me when passing in front of me in my flare that came out of nowhere. If anything, the pilots are the cautious ones at that airport.

 

[Flechas]

RIP for that guy, what a shame. In my two years instructing there tried to avoid DED as much as I could.....

 

[FracCapt]

Unfortunately, Gus Wing died today at about 1500. Gus was a great guy, I spent many days jumping with him, many nights partying with him. Something went terribly wrong today which resulted in Gus and the Twin Otter he exited meeting at approximately 600'-800'AGL over the runway. I've heard some details, but at this point everything is a blur as I am devastated by this.

Rest in peace, brother.

BSBD

 

[moxiepilot]

I believe he passed at halifax. The amazing part is after the legs were sheared off, the diver maneuvered the parachute for landing.

In response to other posts, there are an average of 250 jumps a day totaling 87,000 per year. That's some busy dirt dart dodging. No disrespect to the deceased.

In the past 5 months there have been at least 4 deaths as well as numerous minor and major injuries. This can't be good for business.

But also in response to some posts, a few of the oblivious have no idea what safety is, that includes Skydive Deland employees. I have seen them drive the truck in front of a plane taking off. The pilot had to rotate early to avoid a collision.

Hopefully there wont be any more incidents for a time...