A group of skydivers in Wisconsin jumped from a Skydive Milwaukee aircraft near a crash site on Sunday after watching a small plane go down in a cornfield, then gave first aid to a woman with a serious head injury until ambulance crews arrived.
The skydivers, from Skydive Milwaukee, had seen the single‑engine aircraft descend behind trees near East Troy Municipal Airport, according to the Town of East Troy Police Department and local broadcasters.
Officials in Walworth County said three of the four people on board were taken to hospital and the fourth was treated at the scene, with all expected to survive.
'Did We Just See a Plane Crash?' Skydivers React in Mid-Air
John Bechtel, a skydiver with more than 30 years' experience, told local station WISN that the group had been preparing for an afternoon jump when the smaller aircraft caught their attention.
'He kind of banked up and then he disappeared behind the trees, and we were all waiting for him to show back up,' Mr Bechtel said, adding that the group wondered whether they had just seen a plane crash.
The aircraft, a 1961 Beechcraft 35-A33 Debonair, came down in a cornfield just south of East Troy. Mr Bechtel said he and two colleagues radioed what they had seen and asked their pilot to find a safe spot for them to jump near the crash site.
Air traffic control audio, cited by several Wisconsin outlets, records the jump pilot, Jonah Johnston, telling controllers: 'I have a plane crash, just south of East Troy. He's in a field. I can drop a load of skydivers right over them to potentially help aid.' Controllers replied that it was at his discretion, and the skydivers then jumped.
Skydivers Pick Their Way Through Corn To Reach Wreckage
The corn was too high for the jumpers to see the wreckage as they descended. Kevin Flynn, one of the skydivers, told Milwaukee broadcaster WDJT he had to find the aircraft on foot, saying he got into the field and began calling out for a response before people started yelling to help him locate the wreckage.
One of the skydivers, a former paramedic, began treating the woman with the head injury. Emergency crews later reached the site, which Skydive Milwaukee said was difficult to access from the road.
Skydive Milwaukee said in a statement that several members of its community on board the jump aircraft were trained emergency medical technicians. It said the crash site was 'difficult to access from the road' and that the skydivers were able to reach it faster from the air.
Aerial footage published by WISN showed the aircraft upright in the field with one wing detached. The footage provided a view of the wreckage as emergency responders worked at the scene.
'I Would Absolutely Do That in a Heartbeat'
Mr Bechtel said the timing had worked in the rescuers' favour. 'Had we left five minutes earlier, we wouldn't have seen it. If we left 15 minutes later, we wouldn't have been able to get there to assist,' he said.
He said that in three decades of skydiving it was the first time he had left an aircraft to respond to an emergency rather than for sport. Asked whether he would do it again, he said: 'To be able to do this and to be able to help others in need, I would absolutely do that in a heartbeat.'
Mr Flynn said the outcome could have been far worse. 'It could've been a lot worse for those poor people in that crash, no fatalities,' he said. 'I know it's a terrible thing to happen, but I think it's a wonderful outcome.'
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the crash, according to WISN and the Guardian, with an investigator arriving at the site on Sunday afternoon to document the wreckage and interview witnesses, including the skydivers who saw the plane vanish behind the trees.
