Skydivers parachute into Wisconsin cornfield to aid small plane crash survivors

A Beechcraft crashed into a cornfield near East Troy, Wisconsin, on 27 September. All four people on board survived, according to an account given to a US television network.

The aircraft was seen from another plane in the air at the time. A Skydive Milwaukee jump aircraft had just climbed above East Troy when the skydivers aboard noticed a light plane entering an unusual turn. It passed behind trees and did not reappear. One jumper later told ABC the group asked each other whether they had just watched a crash.

The pilot radioed Milwaukee approach control to report an aircraft down just south of East Troy. Then came an unusual offer: if possible, he could drop skydivers directly over the site to help. Controllers left the decision to him, and the group agreed that three jumpers would go.

The drop put them close to the wreckage in the cornfield. Two of the three were former paramedics. As they reached the aircraft, two occupants were already standing on top of it, one on the fuselage and one on a wing. One jumper treated a person with a serious head injury until emergency services arrived shortly afterwards.

One helper said the decision required little thought: when you see someone in trouble and you can help, you do it. Another described the timing as ideal, saying that jumping five minutes earlier would have meant missing the crash. The source material does not give the cause of the accident or the current condition of the four survivors.