Another Skydiver Hit The 182s Elevator While Exiting The Aircraft

A pilot for a skydiving company became one of the jumpers recently when the Cessna 182 he was flying was damaged by one of the skydivers exiting the airplane.

Twenty-one-year-old Shawn Kinmartin is a pilot for Fly Free Skydiving in Festus, IL. On his fourth run of the day recently, one of the skydivers exiting the airplane damaged the elevator of the Cessna when he jumped.

Kinmartin stayed with the airplane as long as he could, but finally bailed out at about 2,000 feet when it became apparent that he could no longer maintain control. Company policy required him to wear a parachute, according to television station KSDK.

Kinmartin told the station he is a flight simulation student at Southern Illinois University, and that practice in the simulator gave him confidence in the emergency situation. But he said he is also glad he got out of the airplane when he did. "If I was inside the plane when it crashed the way it did I wouldn't be standing here," he said.

The skydiver who struck the elevator on the way of the airplane was also reportedly uninjured.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov