On Tuesday, a 12-month suspended prison sentence was requested against a pilot from a skydiving club in Tarn-et-Garonne for beheading a 40-year-old man in a wingsuit mid-flight.
On July 27, 2018, Nicolas Galy, an aeronautical engineer, was hit at 4,000 meters by a wing of the plane he had jumped from just ten seconds earlier.
With a wingsuit, you jump into the void in a flexible jump suit with wings before opening the parachute.
The pilot, an employee of the Midi-Pyrénées parachuting school in Bouloc-en-Quercy (Tarn-et-Garonne), should not have flown that day because his health condition temporarily prevented him from flying alone, according to investigations carried out by Civil Aviation Accident Investigation Office (BEA).
The 64-year-old pilot, who was charged with manslaughter in the Montauban criminal court, told the hearing that he believed his driver’s license was valid.
The Bouloc-en-Quercy skydiving school is also being prosecuted for safety violations in this case. The prosecutor demanded a fine of 20,000 euros (28,000 Canadian dollars), of which 10,000 euros (16,000 Canadian dollars) was suspended, against the club, which was accused of failing to check the license of its employee.
Since the tragedy, security measures have become tighter and more draconian and briefings have become mandatory, emphasizes the school’s president, Isabelle Deschamps. She added that the defendant, the club’s chief pilot, was himself responsible for checking the licenses of other pilots.
Emmanuelle Franck, lawyer for the civil party, complains of “a lot of recklessness or negligence”.
Immediately after the drop, the pilot of the aircraft began to descend towards the airfield runway. There was no consultation before jumping over the trajectory to be followed.
The court president pointed out a lack of communication between the victim and the pilot.
For the public prosecutor’s office, “the victim is the only one who adhered to the rules without negligence.”
“This tragedy affects everyone and we share the pain of the victims. The practice is extremely dangerous. When we fly, we reach human limits,” defended pilot Elsa Correa Barbaris.
The decision was reserved until November 21st.