Skydivers watch plane vanish from sight, make split-second decision to jump

A group of professional skydivers who witnessed a plane crash took anextraordinary routeto the scene — jumping from their own aircraft to reach the victims.

The men, all experienced skydivers with Skydive Milwaukee, were preparing for a jump when they spotted a small plane near East Troy Municipal Airport on Sunday, according to the Town of East Troy Police Department.

John Bechtel, one of the skydivers, told local outlet WSMV the plane appeared to be flying unusually before disappearing behind a line of trees.

MIDAIR SCARE FORCES PACKED PASSENGER JET INTO EMERGENCY LANDING, TRAVELERS HOSPITALIZED

“He kind of banked up a little bit, and then, he disappeared behind the trees,” Bechtel recalled.

“We were all sitting there waiting for him to show back up somewhere, and [he] never did,” he added.“We all just kind of looked at each other like, ‘Did we just see a plane crash?’”

A group of experienced skydivers jumped from their aircraft to help victims after witnessing a plane crash near East Troy Municipal Airport.(WITI)

The single-engine plane had crashed in a cornfieldnear the airport.

The group quickly asked their pilot to identify a safe place for them to jump so that they could help.

PROBE UNDERWAY AS 7 FLIGHT ATTENDANTS SICKENED BY BAFFLING ODOR ON MAJOR AIRLINE

Air traffic control told the pilot it was his call whether to drop the skydivers over the area.

“It is your discretion if you want todrop jumpers over the area,” air traffic control told the pilot, according to WSMV.

Read More → Major US grocery chains hit by cybersecurity incident

A single-engine plane crashed in a cornfield near East Troy Municipal Airport with four people aboard, according to the report.(WITI)

Read More → France’s Macron blames protests on ‘ultra-left groups whose aim is to bring down the Republic’

“Yes, I am going to drop a couple of them.Yeah, we are going to drop ‘em right now,” the pilot reportedly replied.

The skydivers were the first to reach the crash site.

They alerted emergency crews.

One of the jumpers, a former paramedic, treated a person with aserious head injuryuntil emergency service workers arrived.

Read More → Human vs humanoid robot cage fight goes viral

The skydivers were able to reach the crash site before emergency responders after jumping from their aircraft near the scene.(WITI)

All four people aboard the plane survived, with Bechtel saying that the timing “couldn’t have been any better.”

“Had we left five minutes earlier, we wouldn’t have seen it,” Bechtel told WSMV. 

“Had we left 15 minutes later, we wouldn’t have been able to get there first and assist.”

Bechtel said it was the first time he had ever jumped out of a plane to respond to an emergency situation.

“I’m just glad that we were able to do what we were able to do andget in and help,” Bechtel said, per WSMV.

TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ

He added, “To be able to do this and to be able to help others in need — I would absolutely do that in a heartbeat.”

Read More → Macron has one more chance to save the country or ‘it’s lost for France,’ business owner warns

One of the skydivers, a former paramedic, treated a person with a serious head injury while waiting for EMS to arrive.(WITI)

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the cause of the crash. 

onelink.me/xLDS?pid=AppArticleLink&af_web_dp=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.