From The Cockpit: Lodi Skydiving Mishap!

FighterSweep Fans, we can only imagine what it was like being inside the Cessna 208 when it came down out of the sky near Lodi, California in this incident. The pilot and seventeen skydivers were aboard when the aircraft experienced engine trouble and made an emergency landing in a vineyard. Once on the ground, the aircraft clipped what is believed to be a vine wire, causing it to flip over. One of the skydivers, Sebastian Alvarez, had his GoPro running, and this is what he saw.

Federal investigators are looking into the crash of a tightly packed skydiving plane carrying 18 people that landed upside down in an Acampo vineyard on Thursday afternoon – a review that likely will include a look at maintenance records and weight and balance calculations on the plane.

“At this point it is under investigation,” National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway said Friday. “Once we have access to the aircraft, we will conduct the physical examination of the aircraft.”

No passengers were hurt in the crash into the vineyard just east of Highway 99 between Galt and Lodi in San Joaquin County. The pilot suffered a “minor injury,” according to a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman. A skydiving center official described the injury as a bloody nose. All 18 aboard were wearing seat belts, the official said.

A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said the plane was a single-engine Cessna 208B. The plane experienced engine trouble after takeoff from Lodi Airport, home of the Lodi Parachute Center. The pilot tried to return to the airport but clipped a vehicle on approach, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor wrote in an email.

FAA officials said they and the NTSB look at whether the pilot was qualified to fly that aircraft, the pilot’s medical record, weather conditions, the maintenance log of the aircraft and weight and balance calculations.

The original article can be read in its entirety right here.

(Featured Photo courtesy of KCRA-Sacramento)