Pilot Sentenced after Accidentally Killing Skydiver
A criminal court in Montauban, southern France, convicted a 64-year-old French pilot guilty of murdering a skydiver with the wing of his plane during a jump. He was sentenced to one year suspended prison term for involuntary manslaughter.
According to an inquiry report released in 2020 by the French Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety. The event occurred in July 2018 over the small hamlet of Bouloc. Close to the city of Toulouse in the southwest of the country. A few seconds after the first wingsuit skydiver leaped out of the plane. He collided with the left wing of the aircraft. According to the article, “the wingsuit skydiver died upon impact.”
About Incident
Less than 20 seconds had passed after Galy began his jump over the French village of Bouloc-en-Quercy on July 27, 2018. When he collided with the single-engine Pilatus plane’s wing at 14,000 feet, instantaneously losing his head due to the impact. Galy and another skydiver were gliding in their wingsuits. As the plane descended quickly at the time of the tragedy, the court heard in September. Galy’s horrific death was attributed by prosecutors to pilot error. The pilot denied any misconduct, saying that the deceased “did not follow the expected course and should never have been on that course.”
Swiss-made Pilatus PC-6 Aircraft
The 40-year-old male casualty was the first to jump out of the Swiss-made Pilatus PC-6 aircraft. Which was carrying ten skydivers and one coach, according to the article. After making a left turn, the pilot believed. He had cleared the skydivers’ path of descent, but a few seconds later. He felt a strong shock and “realised that he had hit one of the skydivers,” according to the report. According to the report, the second skydiver was wearing a camera, which recorded the entire crash.
Several Factors Causes Accident
The absence of an on-board briefing between the pilot and the skydivers, as well as the aircraft’s rapid, steep fall, which was piloted by the pilot without visual contact with the wingsuit skydivers, are two possible contributing factors to the crash. According to the investigation, the pilot, who was 58 years old at the time of the incident, was operating a solo aircraft that day in violation of his medical certificate, which forbade such operations.
Skydiving School Association
Records indicate that the Midi-Pyrénées Skydiving School Association, the group that planned the event and hired the pilot at the time, informed the Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety that they had changed their records and put suggested safety precautions in place. The court also imposed a one-year flying restriction on the pilot.
In France, wingsuit skydives claimed the lives of 13 persons between 2015 and 2020, according to a National Mountain Safety Observation System report.
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