Superior Skydivers Survive Crash, Appear On Today Show

11 survivors of a collision of two planes got on another airplane to go to New York city to tell the story the boils down to being prepared. Why do we practice safety measures and know what to do in the time of emergency? These people showed us why.

They appeared on NBC’s “Today” show and plan to tell the harrowing story of a skydiving outing gone wrong. They also shared footage of the events shot via helmet-mounted video cameras — cameras that captured the frantic seconds as two small planes collided at 12,000 feet.

For the moment, Skydive Superior closed, for obvious reasons, one Cessna is done and the other is damaged. Skydive Superior has worked out a deal for their helmet camera footage with NBC. They were compensated, which is odd in the business, but NBC isn't just stopping with using the footage for a news report, it is taping segments for their news programs too.

So what's the story? In case you missed it;

The group went up for the last jump of the day with four skydivers and a pilot in the lead plane, and five skydivers and a pilot in the trailing plane,  they collided above the southern part of Superior at about 6 p.m. Saturday. The trailing plane apparently struck the lead aircraft, shearing off a wing, causing an explosion in the collision.

According to Forum News Service “The chase plane must have got caught in the burble,” said Mark Androsky, whose family owns Skydive Superior, describing the air turbulence behind a moving airplane.

Lucky that most of the occupants of the plane were planning their jump and were out on the wing. When the small explosion happened they all let go, then the others and the pilot exited within ten minutes. The pilot had a back up chute, which he has just in case, and used it, as you can see in the exclusive NBC video. The pilot did land hard and was required to get 25 stitches, the pilots all say they don't like wearing the back up chutes, but in this instance, I think that pilot is happy he wore it.

Then Blake Wedan, the pilot of the chase plane, managed to land his aircraft solo at the Superior airport despite a damaged prop; the five skydivers on his plane jumped to safety, and were yelling at each other as the debris fell.

According to Forum News Service, The fuselage landed at the Head of the Lakes Fairgrounds along Tower Avenue; other pieces fell across the southern portion of Superior but did not appear to cause damage or injuries. The collision and its aftermath were heard and seen by numerous witnesses in the Twin Ports who expected the worst.

They all landed and checked to make sure each was ok. They all spoke to the FAA as they investigated the crash. The cameras helped explain the story too.

Will they go up again, every one of them said yes on the Today Show.

Again, had they not be prepared and trained well, this might not have ended this well.

Here's the message on their Facebook page: Skydive Superior thanks everyone for their support of our jumpers, pilots, and drop zone in the last two days. Most of us are in New York City where we are recording interviews for Dateline which will air a week from Friday. .............We also want you to know that other media outlets are giving out wildly inaccurate information about our arrangement with NBC. Don't believe everything you read or hear. Again, we appreciate your support. Thanks!

See the exclusive NBC video below. Read more.