‘A creepy feeling’: Man jumps from plane 30 minutes before crash, pilot dies

NIAGARA COUNTY, N.Y. (WIVB) — An Elma, New York, man said he’s “blessed to still be here,” after he jumped from a plane just 30 minutes before it crashed Saturday morning, killing the pilot.

Jeffrey Walker told Nexstar’s WIVB that he woke up Saturday morning feeling calm. He arrived at Skydive the Falls, a skydiving center in Youngstown, about 13 miles north of Niagara Falls, around 9:20 a.m.

Opened in June 2019, Skydive the Falls offers a unique experience with a scenic flight over Niagara Falls before each jump.

“Everything was great,” Walker said. “It was great weather, not much wind, very calm wind. Everybody was excited. Everybody was in a good mood.”

Although it was his first time skydiving on Saturday, he said he never got nervous about it, which was strange for him because he is usually very nervous.

“I never got nervous at the door, ready to jump,” Walker said. “I didn’t know what to expect.”

Just 30 minutes later, the unexpected happened: the parachute jump that had taken place just after Walker’s crashed. The pilot, 26-year-old Melanie Georger of Tonawanda, New York, was killed.

“At approximately 11:40 p.m., we received multiple 911 calls of a plane crash just east of Fort Niagara on the Niagara Scenic Parkway,” said Niagara County Sheriff Michael Filicetti. “When we responded, we found one plane (that) had crashed. Unfortunately, one fatality. One pilot was on board and it was confirmed fatal.”

Before the crash, all the parachutists had jumped from the plane.

The Niagara County Sheriff’s Office also noted how close the plane crashed to several major parkways. Filicetti said if the plane had crashed just a few hundred feet from the scene, it could have been much worse.

“It landed just off the parkway. We’re looking west, Fort Niagara, it’s full of football players today,” Filicetti said. “We got lucky where it landed, but it’s an unfortunate incident.”

The crash started a small brush fire, which was extinguished by the Youngstown Volunteer Fire Company.

When asked if this tragedy would prevent Walker from skydiving, he replied in the negative.

“It’s not like planes fall out of the sky once a week and you just dodge them,” Walker said. “This is a fluke. Something went wrong.”

After hearing the news, Walker said he was grateful to be alive. It was a surreal feeling, knowing that it could have just as easily been him.

“For some reason God left me on Earth and I’m just blessed to still be here,” Walker said. “It’s just an eerie feeling that I was literally in that plane for a half hour before it crashed. Why didn’t it crash with us in it? Why didn’t it crash with more people in it? It’s surreal.”

According to the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are coming to the city of Porter to investigate the crash.

The crime scene will be secured until a full investigation has been conducted.