An experienced wingsuit skydiver crashed into the wing of a plane and was decapitated just 20 seconds after his jump in the south of France, it was revealed during the pilot’s manslaughter trial.
Nicolas Galy, 40, was the first of two paratroopers who were freed from the 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 Alain C, 64, descended quickly and caught up with the paratroopers as they glided in their wingsuits.
The plane’s left wing and a prop struck Galy, decapitating him, the Montauban city court heard this week.
Then the victim’s emergency parachute opened and his lifeless body landed in a field.
In the wake of Galy’s death, the pilot was charged with involuntary manslaughter, with prosecutors arguing that his mistakes caused the horrific crash.
Parachutist Nicolas Galy, 40, was decapitated by the wing of a plane during a jump in France in July 2018 (file image).sindret – stock.adobe.com
Alain defended himself in court by insisting that he had done nothing wrong and that Galy “did not follow the expected course and should never 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 has been the tragedy of my life, but it’s not my fault.”
Alain, who worked at a local skydiving school, admitted on the stand that he had not informed the skydivers or wingsuit trainees about the jump.
He then lost track of the wingsuit paratroopers and assumed he had driven them away, although he acknowledged that “they don’t go down very far and can come into conflict with the plane.”
During the trial it was also learned that the 64-year-old aviator was flying with an invalid license after violating some restrictions resulting from an unspecified medical condition.
Prosecutor Jeanne Regaggon argued that Galy “was the only one who obeyed the rules without negligence” on the day of the unfortunate jump.
He asked for a 12-month suspended sentence for the pilot and a fine of more than $10,000 for his employer.
The verdict in the murder trial will be known in November.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn