A skydiver struck the wing of a plane as he came down and lost both his legs., later succumbing to his injuries. Cinematographer Albert "Gus" Wing III hit a plane even as he opened his parachute, his legs were severed and he died at the Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach. There was no confirmation if the pilot of the plane, William Buchmann of DeLand, was hurt.
Wing had taken a routine jump over an airport in DeLand, central Florida, when the accident occured on Saturday morning. Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Holly Baker revealed that fourteen other skydivers were jumping at that time.
Police issued a statement saying, "He managed to maneuver the parachute and land. The airplane landed safely and police investigators observed damage to the plane's left wing." The plane managed to land safely at DeLand, which is about 40 miles north of Orlando.
The close knit skydiving community mourned the loss of a great proponent of the art of skydiving, Chris Spence of Georgia said Wing was greatly respected in the sky-diving community, "The sky-diving community is losing a great person today," he said.
Wing is survived by his wife who is a geologist in the construction industry. Neal Rothlauf, a neighbor was quoted as saying, "She was very excited about becoming a citizen, and they flew the [U.S.] flag last Fourth of July, I remember."
Mike Johnston, general manager of Skydive DeLand says that such accidents are uncommon in the area, "There are about 15 million jumps every year. I only know of one other case where a sky diver was struck by an airplane." he said. 28-year-old Jan Kadic, a Czech parachutist was fatally injured when he attempted a hard landing in January this year.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board were investigating the crash.
