Skydiving plane makes emergency landing at Springs East Airport
A skydiving plane had to make an emergency landing at the Colorado Springs East Airport on Sunday.
The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said at around 1:46 p.m. the pilot of the “Into the Blue Skydiving” aircraft was attempting to land at the airport after an engine had caught fire.
Officials believe a bird may have gotten into the engine, causing the fire.
Fourteen people were on board, most being clients of the skydiving company. They were all able to parachute from the plane and were later picked up by company personnel. No one was injured.
Trent Reese was on the plane when the engine went out. He said everyone heard a pop, and turned to the pilot for direction on what to do next.
“The pilot took a few seconds to assess the situation and he said ‘everybody out.’ And we were at a safe altitude for all of us to get out. And we all landed safely,” said Reese.
Owner John Mayhan said they were three minutes into the flight when they struck the bird.
“It’s an unfortunate event. Everyone is safe. We are very happy everyone is accounted for. Now we have to figure out how to mitigate the damages and get back open. Hopefully by next weekend we will be able to get back up and get flying,” said Mayhan.
Mayhand said once everyone landed, it took a little while to track down all the sky divers because they were scattered in the surrounding area. He was grateful for the pilot’s maneuvers under pressure.
“He did an amazing job flying the plane, and he brought it back safely,” said Mayhan.
Rusty Bobby Wardlow was also in the plane when the bird struck. He was able to use his parachute, but other jumpers had to use their reserve parachutes because they were jumping too close to the ground. The skydivers normally jump at 12,000 feet but exited the plane at 2,000 feet.
“We are all skydivers. We deal with high stress situations every day. It’s part of our life. So for everyone to remain calm, it’s pretty normal in that kind of situation,” said Wardlow.
The company hopes to have the plane fixed and reopen for business next weekend.
