A 26-year-old pilot has died after her plane crashed shortly after releasing a group of skydivers near Niagara Falls.
Melanie Georger, 26, was the only person left on-board the small, single-engine Cessna plane when it crashed Saturday, the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office said. The plane crashed in Youngstown, N.Y., about 24 kilometres from Niagara Falls.
After an initial investigation, police determined that Georger had released all the skydivers on the plane and was heading back to land when she crashed. A small brush fire broke out at the site of the crash.
Georger’s father Paul mourned his daughter’s death in a heartbreaking Facebook post.
“My beloved daughter, my best friend and one of the two lights of my life passed away suddenly today. Melanie was a pilot, on the cusp of realizing her dream to fly for the airlines. She was doing what she loved, flying for a local skydiving company, when her plane crashed,” he wrote.
“She was only 26. My life is much darker today and will remain so for a long time.”
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Georger was a pilot for Skydive the Falls, police revealed. The company, which advertises a scenic flyover of Niagara Falls before each skydive, has yet to publicly comment on its employee’s death.
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A skydiver on a flight piloted by Georger right before the one that crashed said he felt blessed to be alive and lamented that her life was cut short.
“Why didn’t it happen when I was up there? Why didn’t it happen when we were all on the plane?” first-time jumper Jeffrey Walker told The Associated Press. He described the events as “surreal.”
He said he was unconcerned by the pilot’s youth, and that she checked in with him personally and shared encouraging words about his tandem skydiving partner, boosting his confidence before he jumped.
“I give her props for wanting to do what she was doing,” he said. “I really feel bad for the business and the company she was working for, because they’re a great company. I thought they did a great job training.”
In an interview with local affiliate WIVB-TV, Walker added that he was “on that plane literally a half hour before it crashed.”
Niagara County Sheriff Michael Filicetti told the local broadcaster that the crash could have been even more deadly if the plane had landed just a couple of hundred feet away, on a recreational field.
“Where it landed was just off the parkway. We look to the west near Fort Niagara, it’s full of soccer players today,” Filicetti said. “We’re lucky where it landed, but it is an unfortunate incident.”
The National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation into the crash.
According to a Facebook post from Eagle East Aviation, Georger earned her private pilot certificate in July 2021.
— With files from The Associated Press
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