Department Maintains Manslaughter Charges Should Be Filed

Police in DeLand, FL announced this week the department is recanting its earlier assertion that pilot William Buchmann was racing skydiver Albert "Gus" Wing III (file photo, right) to the ground when Buchmann's De Havilland DHC-6 collided in midair with Wing. The April 23 accident claimed Wing's life, and caused Buchmann's license to be suspended.

Friends and family have maintained since the accident occurred that the report claiming the airmen were playing a game of airborne "chicken" at the time of the accident was erroneous.

Police say their initial finding was based on witness statements the two men would often race each other to the ground, with the loser buying beer.

"From what (Investigator Rick Rockburn) was telling me, [that's] more of a general comment that was made as people were surmising, 'Well, maybe this is what happened,'" DeLand Police Spokesman Cmdr. Randel Henderson said in a voice mail to the Daytona Beach News-Journal Monday. "But nobody actually pointed a finger and said this is what they were doing."

Henderson went on to say police had viewed the tape from a helmet-cam Wing had been wearing on the jump, and that led police to conclude Wing had made a normal descent.

"Rick (Rockburn) said that the tape, the helmet cam that Gus Wing was wearing, it almost shows that he was very calm, coming down very slowly, that there was no race to get to the ground before he was struck by the airplane," Henderson said.

The new information is not expected to alter the FAA's finding, however, that Buchmann was to blame for the fatal collision. As was reported in Aero-News, earlier this month Buchmann accepted a 270-day suspension of his ticket as penalty for the accident.

According to DeLand police chief Ed Overman, the retraction is also not expected to change the department's recommendation that Buchmann face manslaugher charges for reckless or careless operation of an aircraft.

"Anytime, according to the law, you're reckless and it results in the death of an individual, the charge is appropriate," Overman said.

Prosecutors won't determine if charges should be filed until the NTSB Final Report on the accident is released, said State Attorney's Office spokeswoman Linda Pruitt. That report is not expected for about 3-4 months.

Mike Truffer, publisher of DeLand-based Skydive Magazine, said he hopes the admission that Wing and Buchmann weren't playing chicken reduces the chance Buchmann will face charges.

"I always thought that (the chicken allegation) was speculation and an offhanded comment, and never thought Gus Wing and Bill Buchmann were doing that," he told the News-Journal.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov, www.skydivedeland.com