Kinmartin, 21, is a pilot for the Fly Free Skydiving company in Festus, Missouri. On Saturday he was flying around the state border of Illinois with his last two jumpers of the day. As the last skydiver jumped out of the plane at about 11,500 feet, he accidentally hit and damaged the tail wing that is responsible for the planes elevation. Kinmartin struggled with the plane for about 10 minutes trying to get it under control as he headed back for the landing strip. When an experienced pilot flew up alongside of Kinmartin and told him the plane was un-salvageable he knew that jumping was his only option. Flying the plane to some open farmland, he got ready to jump out of the plane. Luckily he was already wearing a parachute, per company policy.
“When I jumped out of the airplane, it was 2,000 feet, so I only had 1,500 feet to the ground,” Kinmartin told KSDK. “And when I jumped out of the airplane, it spiraled and crashed into the field.” Looking at the wreckage after his safe landing he realized that he would not have survived the crash if he hadn’t jumped out of the plane. Kinmartin surprisingly wasn’t scarred from the way that he took his first skydive and told CNN he’s looking forward to skydiving in the near future. Check out the report below:
