Two small planes packed with skydivers collided over Wisconsin Saturday evening just before all nine jumpers and a pilot parachuted to safety.
The second pilot operating one of the two Cessnas in Superior was able to land his plane safely, despite the fiery impact some 12,000 feet in the air according to officials with Skydive Superior.
Mike Robinson, a skydiving instructor who was caught standing outside his aircraft with three others when the trailing plane struck, recalled the moment his Cessna 182's right wing ripped off, "in a ball of fire."
"There was no warning, it was just a huge loud bang and the wing was gone and we were in free fall. It just happened," he described the mid-air collision to the Daily News.
If he and his plane’s crew weren’t already safely strapped into their chutes, he said, all four of them would have faced certain death.
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"What we were hanging onto was gone, the strut was gone," he explained. "We didn’t jump; it was just taken away from us."
The four passengers were flung into a free fall as the plane spiraled away from them, its pilot momentarily trapped inside.
"He was fortunate enough to get his seatbelt off, get out of the airplane and activate his emergency chute," he said of that pilot.
The five jumpers on the second plane, a Cessna 185, were also able to jump to safety.
Remarkably, as a "tribute to his skill," according to Robinson, its pilot was able to safely land his damaged plane at the Superior Airport.
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Watching this all take place were the now 10 jumpers, including the Cessna 182's pilot.
Robinson described their free fall as "the longest minute I've ever spent" as they did their best to maneuver around the debris that fell from the planes overhead.
As he told the Duluth News Tribune: "We're in free fall, so we're falling about 120 miles an hour vertically down ... But then we open our parachutes, and now all the sudden they’re falling faster than we are.
“Fortunately, everybody kept it together so they just avoided (the debris),” he said.
Down below witnesses described the terrifying scene in the evening sky.
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"We heard a boom and looked up and there's a fireball and smoke," Braydon Kurtz who was duck hunting along the St. Louis River recalled to the Tribune.
Everyone on board both planes escaped largely uninjured despite the incredible crash.
The pilot of the Cessna 182 was hospitalized for minor injuries after sustaining cuts to his hands.
All of the passengers on board the planes were veteran jumpers, said Robinson, adding that he had no idea what may have caused the planes to collide.
"It's way too early," he said. "Anything would be pure speculation at this point."
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The plane's fuselage and wings were recovered in various areas without injuries reported on the ground.
The incident is currently under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, according to Superior Police Department Deputy Chief Matt Markon.
As for Robinson and his team of skydivers, he says that despite their near-death experience, they haven't yet lost their nerve.
In fact if it wasn't for the destruction of their only two planes he said they'd be back in the sky as soon as they could.
ngolgowski@nydailynews.com
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