NEW YORK — On Sunday, authorities released the name of a pilot who died during a parachute jump after her passengers jumped from the plane near Niagara Falls.
Melanie Georger, 26, was the only person on board when the single-engine Cessna plane crashed Saturday. Niagara County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. Georger, of Towanda, New York, was working toward becoming a commercial pilot, her father said in a statement on Facebook Saturday.
“My beloved daughter, my best friend and one of the two bright spots in my life passed away suddenly today,” Paul Georger wrote. “Melanie was a pilot, on the verge of fulfilling her dream of flying for the airline. She was doing what she loved most, flying for a local skydiving company, when her plane crashed.”
The skydiving company, identified by the Sheriff’s Office as Skydive the Falls, did not immediately respond to emails and social media messages seeking comment Sunday morning. A person who answered a phone number listed on the company’s website hung up. The company advertises a scenic flyover of Niagara Falls for every skydive.
One of the parachutists who jumped before the crash told the Buffalo TV station WIBV that he felt blessed to be alive.
“I was literally in that plane for half an 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,” Jeffrey Walker, who jumped for the first time, told the station.
Despite the crash, Walker said he wouldn’t rule out skydiving in the future. “This is a fluke. Something went wrong.”
The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that the plane was a single-engine Cessna 208B. It crashed near a road in Youngstown, less than 15 miles (24 kilometers) from Niagara Falls. The National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation into the crash.