Aircraft Damaged In The Incident

A skydiver is recovering after hitting the tail of the airplane from which he was jumping back in late June.

According to the NTSB's preliminary report on the incident, on June 27, 2016, about 1400 mountain daylight time, a Beech E-90 King Air airplane, N92DV, was struck by a skydiver exiting the airplane near Longmont, Colorado. The commercial rated pilot and fourteen skydivers were not injured and one skydiver sustained serious injuries. The airplane sustained substantial damage. The airplane was registered to and operated by Mile Hi Skydivers Inc., Longmont, Colorado, under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a skydiving flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed, but the flight was receiving visual flight rules (VFR) flight following. The flight originated from Vance Airport (LMO), Longmont, Colorado, about 1345.

The pilot reported that the loading and takeoff portion of the flight were normal with no anomalies. The flight contained fifteen total skydivers, one of which was a student and the rest were licensed skydivers with varied levels of experience.

Two skydivers safely exited the airplane at 5,000 ft above ground level (agl). He did not recall any jump indication lights being illuminated in the cabin and no one notified him of any illuminated lights. He continued the climb to 16,000 ft mean sea level (msl), which was 1,500 ft below normal exit altitude.

At 12.2 nautical miles (nm) from the intended GPS waypoint, the pilot maintained a full power setting and continued the climb for 17,500 ft msl. The pilot activated the amber light, which indicated that the skydivers could open the door and spot check the area. Prior to reaching the jump location, which was 11.2 nm from the waypoint, he was in the process of configuring the airplane for the jump when he felt the flight controls shake, but the flight instruments and gauges appeared normal. He then felt a jolt in the flight controls and heard a "thud' sound. He noticed that three skydivers had exited the airplane and three more were in the process of exiting. He switched the jump lights to red and instructed the remaining skydivers to remain in the airplane. The remaining skydivers told the pilot that someone had hit the tail. The pilot descended and landed the airplane at LMO.

The skydiver's name has not been released to the media.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.ntsb.gov