An experienced parachutist hit the wing of a plane and was amputated just 20 seconds into his jump in the South of France, it was revealed during the pilot’s manslaughter trial.
Nicolas Galy, 40, was the first of two skydivers released from a single-engine Pilatus plane at 14,000 feet above the town of Bouloc-en-Quercy in July 2018, the Times reported.
Moments later, the plane’s pilot, identified only as 64-year-old Alain C, quickly descended and chased the paratroopers as they glided in their wingsuits.
The plane’s left wing and strut clipped Galy, severing his head, a court in the town of Montauban heard this week.
The victim’s emergency parachute then opened, and his lifeless body landed in a field.
After Galy’s death, the pilot was charged with manslaughter, with prosecutors arguing that his mistakes caused the horrific crash.
Skydiver Nicolas Galy, 40, was severed by a plane wing while jumping in France in July 2018 (stock image).sindret – stock.adobe.com
Alain defended himself in court, insisting that he had done nothing wrong and that Galy “did not follow the expected path and should not have followed that course.”
According to the pilot, Galy, an engineer and parachutist with 226 jumps under his belt, was parallel to the plane, and Alain thought he was “further south.”
“I think my flight path made sense,” the pilot testified. “This is a tragedy in my life but I am innocent.”
Alain, who works for a local skydiving school, admitted in the stand that he did not brief the skydivers and wingmen about the jump.
He later lost track of the wingsuit jumpers and thought he had missed them – although he admitted that “they didn’t go down much and could conflict with the plane.”
It also emerged during the trial that the 64-year-old pilot was flying with an invalid license after he breached several restrictions stemming from an unspecified medical condition.
Prosecutor Jeanne Regagngon argued that Galy “was the only one who followed the rules without negligence” on the day of the ill-fated jump.
He asked for a 12-month suspended sentence for the pilot and a fine of more than $10,000 for his employer.
A decision in the murder trial will be made in November.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
