Honda Airs Live Skydiving Ad–Tragedy Ensues

Honda recently aired a ‘Live’ Skydiving Ad on television in Europe. The ad is pretty impressive with the skydiving team spelling out the H-O-N-D and A of Honda for this publicity stunt. The commercial can be found below, courtesy of YouTube. It is aptly titled ‘Jump’.

The BBC is reporting that only a couple of hours after this ‘live’ commercial took place, that one of the planes got into some trouble and ended up losing a wing, causing the plane to crash. One pilot and one skydiver were killed in the incident, while nine other skydivers escaped before the crash.

If you will think back to a few days ago, I did post an item about a recent skydiving accident in Spain. The time this was reported, nothing was mentioned about this being the same plane from the Honda ad shoot. This indeed was the same plane. Honda has since came out and suggested that they had no connection to the plane at the time of the incident, as all of it’s skydiving members and film team had already departed. Honda did offer up it’s condolences to the victims’ families. The Pilatus PC-6 crashed near Toledo Spain.

Another Close Call for Skydivers–This Time In Indiana

I am guessing that as the weather has started to finally get a bit warmer, that many people are aching to get outdoors and get on with their myriad of activities, including those of the high-risk sort. Skydivers will attest that their activities are much safer than many other sports. Thousands of jumps take place every day without an incident. For some reason, this week has been a bad one for skydiving press. The article of the crashing plane in Spain has made it’s rounds through many of the major news organizations this week, and now we have another one that is beginning to take off.

WFIE Channel 14, out of Evansville, Indiana is reporting on an incident that happened Sunday morning near Greensburg, Indiana–just outside of Indianapolis. Much like the first incident mentioned above, this one involved a plane malfunction at 7,000 feet. Fourteen skydivers were forced to make an emergency quick-exit out of the plane. The pilot then tried to circle around and land the plane, but upon touch-down, the plane flipped over on it’s top. Luckily, nobody was injured in this incident and all skydivers did make it safely to the ground. A pretty close call for everyone involved.

I have seen this story floating around in the International Press already, including places as far away as India. Much of this probably relates back to the press coverage of the first incident and how much attention it has brought. With the crash in Greensburg, Indiana coming right on the heels of the skydiving incident in Spain, I am sure this will get even bigger in the coming days.

I do need to emphasize that skydiving is a relatively safe activity, but you never can tell what is going to happen when it comes to equipment. I use to have a pretty good buddy that was a skydiving instructor at a local airport. I will never forget the time he told me about his current wife’s first jump. Somehow, while jumping tandem with her instructor (which wasn’t my friend) her lines had crossed on her parachute. She was having a good ‘ol time waving her hands around, spinning, attempting to flip–all in mid-air, without realizing that there was a problem. My friend was on the ground and not able to do anything from his vantage point but look on. The skydiving instructor with her, had to get her under control, tell her there was a major problem with the chute, and keep her calm enough to be able to let go of her with on hand, reach back and pull the spare. Needless to say, they both landed safely, but with a frightening story to tell. By the way, they both still skydive on a regular basis–something I am not so sure I would be able to do.