A small plane that got tangled in a skydiver's parachute over the weekend left both the pilot and the airborne man with minor injuries.
49-year-old skydiver Steve Frost's shocking collision with the plane flown by 87-year-old Shannon L. Trembley just outside of Tampa was caught on camera, according to a report by NBC News. The photo series depicts the skydiver just feet above the ground, while the plane lifts off nearby. The aircraft can then be seen clipping the strings of Frost's parachute, pummeling him into the air while the plane nosedives into a grassy patch.
Both men were hospitalized with no serious injuries, the Seattle Times reported.
Frost and Trembley both told NBC News that the other person was at fault for the collision. According to the 49-year-old skydiver, the pilot had been previously informed that parachuting activity was scheduled to happen in the area.
"I definitely thought I wasn't going to make it," Frost stated. "Our pilot had seen him and contacted him directly to ensure that he knew we were going to be parachuting in the area."
But Trembley told NBC he didn't agree, in an official statement released by his wife.
"He was very alert, as he is when he flies," Trembley's wife said of the 87-year-old pilot. "He was paying attention to what was going on and knew jumpers were there...but [the jumpers] were in the wrong place."
Frost said that wasn't true.
"When you fly into an area with parachutists all over, you have that high potential of killing somebody," he said.
Trembley was reportedly performing takeoff and landing maneuvers in his Cessna aircraft when he got tangled up in Frost's lines near the South Lakeland Airport.
The Federal Aviation Administration and local law enforcement have been tasked with investigating the event.
