Pilot Accepts Suspension For Collision With Skydiver

[Sport_AV]

The pilot of a plane that collided with a skydiver, causing fatal injuries, has agreed to accept a nine-month suspension of all of his aviation certificates. But William J. Buchmann's lawyer, R. Patrick Phillips, says the 57-year-old pilot is not admitting that he violated any regulations, despite accusations by the FAA that he flew the aircraft in a "grossly careless or reckless manner" when it struck his longtime friend Albert "Gus" Wing over Deland Airport last April. "Our view is that this was an accident and nothing more," Phillips told the Orlando Sentinel. And while they mourned the loss of Wing, colleagues and patrons at Skydive Deland, including Wing's family, are rallying behind Buchmann, who's being kept on at the skydive center, doing ground jobs, while he serves the suspension. "He's one of the best, most competent pilots that [has] ever worked in our industry," said Skydive Deland owner Bob Hallett.

http://www.avweb.com/newswire/11_47a/brief...tml?CMP=OTC-RSS

 

[SilentWarrior]

Personally I think this a just sentence. It was well known that the pilot and parachutist were in a friendly competition to see who can get to the ground first. I know it is easy to blame the pilot (and he does have his share of blame), but the parachutist also carries the burden of helping to creating a (in this case) fatal environment. A tragedy that should have never happened.