13 skydivers in Colorado jump safely when plane catches fire

[TexasTowelie]

[font color=330099]Yikes, the forum purpose says "I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky. Discuss all things Colorado." This story is too literal.[/font]

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — A skydiving plane caught fire shortly after taking off from a small Colorado airport, and the 13 trained jumpers aboard parachuted to safety before it made an emergency landing, authorities said.

Officials with Out of the Blue Skydiving said they believe the plane struck a bird after leaving Colorado Springs East Airport on Sunday afternoon. Passenger Trent Reese said they heard a pop on board.

"The pilot took a few seconds to assess the situation and he said, 'Everybody out,'" Reese told Colorado Springs TV station KRDO (http://bit.ly/2aM76oL ).

The skydivers jumped from the plane and were picked up by company workers, the El Paso County Sheriff's Office said. No injuries were reported, and the plane landed safety back at the airport. The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.

Read more: http://hosted2.ap.org/COGRA/a1210881e1db47d69e4869ba913e6100/Article_2016-08-08-US--Skydiving%20Plane-Emergency%20Landing/id-b9b1313b81624bb1a4c04d02bcaa9ee7 (Grand Junction Daily Sentinel)

[uppityperson]

1. Place I jumped at in AZ had winds hit after the plane took off, back in the 70's. It was too loaded

to land safely in the wind and the wind was too high for the skydivers to try and land under chutes. So they went out a bit and saw a nice softball field to drop everyone at. The 1st out missed, on the second past the next group landed safely in the field. Which they discovered upon landing was inside the state prison.

Glad everyone here was safe. "some skydivers had to use their reserve parachutes because they were jumping too close to the ground." is an odd thing to do because your main chute opens as fast and then you'd have a reserve. 3000 ft was standard what we used to start at, maybe gear is very different now?