Skydiver killed in collision with Twin Otter
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Skydiver killed in collision with Twin Otter
From the Orlando Sentinel:
"Sky diver made others feel safe
Novices who shared 'Gus' Wing's last jump and colleagues recall his tandem passions.
By Stephen Hudak | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted April 25, 2005
DELAND -- Megan Trombino's first jump from an airplane was probably her last.
Eager to experience the thrill of free falling from 12,000 feet, yet anxious, she and her boyfriend found the money to sky dive more easily than the nerve -- until Albert "Gus" Wing III greeted them at the DeLand Airport on Saturday morning.
Wing, 50, a legendary aerial photographer, had been jumping from planes for 30 years.
"He just had the biggest smile on his face," Trombino, an 18-year-old Stetson University education major from suburban Chicago, said in an interview Sunday. "It's a scary thing to go jump out of an airplane, and he made us feel instantly safe."
But as Trombino drifted to the ground, something horrible happened.
The wise-cracking photographer, whose work has been featured in movies and magazines, floated into the path of the Twin Otter aircraft from which he and 14 other sky divers had leapt.
The collision sheared off his legs at the knees, but witnesses said he managed to maneuver the parachute and land. He died at Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were summoned to investigate the fatal accident, the second this year at Skydive DeLand.
"Investigators are still gathering information," FAA spokeswoman Holly Baker said Sunday.
Wing's helmet-mounted camera could hold key clues to the cause of the accident involving the Longwood photographer and the veteran pilot of the plane, William Buchmann of DeLand.
Baker said investigators have not disclosed whether Wing was filming when hit.
The camera had been rolling on Trombino's boyfriend, Stetson student Casey Steelman of Naples, who had jumped seconds after Wing.
"I was waving my arms and screaming, going nuts, and he was waving back," Steelman said Sunday. "He had this big smile on his face like he really loves to do his job. Everything seemed good."
Like Trombino, Steelman had barrel-rolled from the aircraft tethered by a harness to a parachute instructor, who pulled the rip cord and guided their 10-minute tandem fall to the ground.
"I was just looking down like 'Wow,' " he said. "I started to relax a little bit in the air."
Steelman said he and the instructor then suddenly noticed the plane buzzing closer to a sky diver floating under an open parachute. They intersected. The chute seemed to buckle, as if it were failing.
"Then everything straightened out and seemed perfectly fine," Steelman said.
But sirens were wailing when they touched down.
Steelman's instructor unbuckled the harness and sprinted off.
"We knew something bad had happened," Steelman said.
News of Wing's death spread quickly over the Internet, especially on Dropzone.com, a Web site for sky-diving enthusiasts, some of whom had jumped with him and others who just loved his acrobatic photography.
"He was totally passionate about his art," said Norman Kent, a sky-diving photographer from Flagler Beach, whose friendship with Wing began with a rivalry: They competed for the same jobs.
"In the air, it's very different," he said. "It's a world of one minute. You've got to fly into position [to take the photograph] with all the elements you need, and then you've got to save your life."
He and Wing worked together on Drop Zone, a movie starring Wesley Snipes.
Kent described his friend as a person who cared more about art than money, often forsaking the business side of his work. He only recently arranged to set up a Web site for his photography.
Dawn Suiter, a Tennessee woman who was helping Wing create the site, said he enjoyed photographing new jumpers as much as he relished creative shots of clouds and horizons.
"He always had a camera in his hand or on his head," she said.
She said he was re-energized seven years ago when he married Lydia Wing, who is also a sky-diving enthusiast. "Most of his non-working pictures were of her," Suiter said.
Lydia Wing would not comment Sunday from the couples' Longwood home.
Gus Wing photographed world-record attempts and other major sky-diving events around the world.
"If it was an important sky-diving event, Gus had a personal invitation to be there," Suiter said.
Skydive DeLand was open for business Sunday, but the mood was somber.
Mike Johnston, the general manager, said he could not explain the accident, which involved two of the most safety-conscious men he knows. "I can't really say which was wrong," he said. "I don't want to speculate."
Johnston said that in 1.2 million jumps during the past 13½ years there have been 13 deaths at the facility. In January, Jan Kadic, a 28-year-old Czech parachutist, was fatally injured during a hard landing at Skydive DeLand. He died with injuries that included two broken legs, a broken hip and an injury to his face.
Tom Buchanan, a pilot and sky-diving instructor, posted a possible explanation on Dropzone.com.
He said sky divers often can't see an airplane approaching from behind and can't hear it until it is very close. He said the parachutist also cannot turn quickly or drop faster to avoid a collision.
"Even if a jumper sees an airplane, there may not be time to avoid it," he said.
Buchanan said pilots have their hands full. "With so much happening, it can be difficult to identify a threat as small as a parachute when you're trying to land," he said.
Many of those weighing in paid tribute to Wing, offering condolences to his family and "blue skies" to Gus.
Erin Cox of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Stephen Hudak can be reached at 386-851-7915 or [email protected].
"Sky diver made others feel safe
Novices who shared 'Gus' Wing's last jump and colleagues recall his tandem passions.
By Stephen Hudak | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted April 25, 2005
DELAND -- Megan Trombino's first jump from an airplane was probably her last.
Eager to experience the thrill of free falling from 12,000 feet, yet anxious, she and her boyfriend found the money to sky dive more easily than the nerve -- until Albert "Gus" Wing III greeted them at the DeLand Airport on Saturday morning.
Wing, 50, a legendary aerial photographer, had been jumping from planes for 30 years.
"He just had the biggest smile on his face," Trombino, an 18-year-old Stetson University education major from suburban Chicago, said in an interview Sunday. "It's a scary thing to go jump out of an airplane, and he made us feel instantly safe."
But as Trombino drifted to the ground, something horrible happened.
The wise-cracking photographer, whose work has been featured in movies and magazines, floated into the path of the Twin Otter aircraft from which he and 14 other sky divers had leapt.
The collision sheared off his legs at the knees, but witnesses said he managed to maneuver the parachute and land. He died at Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were summoned to investigate the fatal accident, the second this year at Skydive DeLand.
"Investigators are still gathering information," FAA spokeswoman Holly Baker said Sunday.
Wing's helmet-mounted camera could hold key clues to the cause of the accident involving the Longwood photographer and the veteran pilot of the plane, William Buchmann of DeLand.
Baker said investigators have not disclosed whether Wing was filming when hit.
The camera had been rolling on Trombino's boyfriend, Stetson student Casey Steelman of Naples, who had jumped seconds after Wing.
"I was waving my arms and screaming, going nuts, and he was waving back," Steelman said Sunday. "He had this big smile on his face like he really loves to do his job. Everything seemed good."
Like Trombino, Steelman had barrel-rolled from the aircraft tethered by a harness to a parachute instructor, who pulled the rip cord and guided their 10-minute tandem fall to the ground.
"I was just looking down like 'Wow,' " he said. "I started to relax a little bit in the air."
Steelman said he and the instructor then suddenly noticed the plane buzzing closer to a sky diver floating under an open parachute. They intersected. The chute seemed to buckle, as if it were failing.
"Then everything straightened out and seemed perfectly fine," Steelman said.
But sirens were wailing when they touched down.
Steelman's instructor unbuckled the harness and sprinted off.
"We knew something bad had happened," Steelman said.
News of Wing's death spread quickly over the Internet, especially on Dropzone.com, a Web site for sky-diving enthusiasts, some of whom had jumped with him and others who just loved his acrobatic photography.
"He was totally passionate about his art," said Norman Kent, a sky-diving photographer from Flagler Beach, whose friendship with Wing began with a rivalry: They competed for the same jobs.
"In the air, it's very different," he said. "It's a world of one minute. You've got to fly into position [to take the photograph] with all the elements you need, and then you've got to save your life."
He and Wing worked together on Drop Zone, a movie starring Wesley Snipes.
Kent described his friend as a person who cared more about art than money, often forsaking the business side of his work. He only recently arranged to set up a Web site for his photography.
Dawn Suiter, a Tennessee woman who was helping Wing create the site, said he enjoyed photographing new jumpers as much as he relished creative shots of clouds and horizons.
"He always had a camera in his hand or on his head," she said.
She said he was re-energized seven years ago when he married Lydia Wing, who is also a sky-diving enthusiast. "Most of his non-working pictures were of her," Suiter said.
Lydia Wing would not comment Sunday from the couples' Longwood home.
Gus Wing photographed world-record attempts and other major sky-diving events around the world.
"If it was an important sky-diving event, Gus had a personal invitation to be there," Suiter said.
Skydive DeLand was open for business Sunday, but the mood was somber.
Mike Johnston, the general manager, said he could not explain the accident, which involved two of the most safety-conscious men he knows. "I can't really say which was wrong," he said. "I don't want to speculate."
Johnston said that in 1.2 million jumps during the past 13½ years there have been 13 deaths at the facility. In January, Jan Kadic, a 28-year-old Czech parachutist, was fatally injured during a hard landing at Skydive DeLand. He died with injuries that included two broken legs, a broken hip and an injury to his face.
Tom Buchanan, a pilot and sky-diving instructor, posted a possible explanation on Dropzone.com.
He said sky divers often can't see an airplane approaching from behind and can't hear it until it is very close. He said the parachutist also cannot turn quickly or drop faster to avoid a collision.
"Even if a jumper sees an airplane, there may not be time to avoid it," he said.
Buchanan said pilots have their hands full. "With so much happening, it can be difficult to identify a threat as small as a parachute when you're trying to land," he said.
Many of those weighing in paid tribute to Wing, offering condolences to his family and "blue skies" to Gus.
Erin Cox of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Stephen Hudak can be reached at 386-851-7915 or [email protected].
