In a near miraculous (but no doubt well drilled) outcome at Lake Taupo this afternoon 12 skydivers and the pilot all parachuted to safety when their PAC 750XL aircraft ZK-SDT2 crashed into the lake following an apparently catastrophic engine failure. The pilot who is required to wear a parachute on skydiving flights escaped through his cockpit door and parachuted into a blackberry bush, while the tandem jumpers also landed on land (despite earlier reports that they landed in the water).
The aircraft was operated by Skydive Taupo whose base on the airfield features an image of the aircraft in corrugated iron. I arrived at the airfield shortly after the plane had gone down, having been alerted to a newsflash on his smartphone by my tech-savvy grandson. It seemed as if all skydiving had been suspended while I was there.
Local Helicopter Services (BOP) Ltd AS 350 B3 Squirrel ZK-HKC3 lifting off for the scene with a TV news cameraman on board.
And ZK-SDT2 in happier times, photo'd on 21-12-13.
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