Colorado Aviation Accidents & Incidents

HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn June 26, 2016, about 1400 mountain daylight time, a Beech E-90 King Air airplane, N92DV, was struck by an exiting skydiver while the airplane was maneuvering near Longmont, Colorado. The pilot and 14 skydivers were not injured and one skydiver sustained serious injuries. The airplane sustained substantial damage. The airplane was registered to Mile Hi Skydivers Inc. and operated by Mile Hi Skydiving Center, 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 local 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 15 skydivers, one of which was a student and the rest were licensed skydivers with varied levels of experience. At 5,000 ft above ground level (agl) the pilot configured the airplane for a jump and activated the jump indication lights. The student and one other skydiver safely exited the airplane at that time as "hop and pop" jumpers. The pilot de-configured the airplane and initiated a climb to the planned jump altitude. The pilot did not recall any jump indication lights being illuminated in the cabin during the climb and none of the remaining jumpers notified him of any illuminated jump 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 stated that he 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 appeared normal. He then felt a jolt in the flight controls and heard a "thud" sound. He looked back and noticed 3 skydivers had exited the airplane and 3 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 injured skydiver and two other skydivers (skydivers one, two, and three for report identification purposes only) stated that the amber jump light remained on after the "hop and pop" and was not turned off as expected. Skydiver two stated that he told a senior skydiver about the amber light but the senior skydiver was not concerned since he knew where to spot for the jump. No one notified the pilot that the amber light remained on. When the airplane arrived at 12,000 ft msl the light tur