A Tragedy Turned Miracle: Revisiting Skydive Superior One Year Later

SUPERIOR, WI - "All of us, had we had another airplane, we would have jumped the next day. It's just part of who we are," said Mike Robinson, Skydive Superior's AFF Instructor.  One day later, or one year later, the 11 survivors of the Skydive Superior crash did not hesitate to jump out of another plane. "At the end of the day the instructors like to reserve the last load just for ourselves, for fun. So we did,” explained Robinson, reflecting on the accident.  He went on to explain the plan for that afternoon. "We get together in the air and do what we call a tracking dive, which is just scooting across the sky as fast as we can.” But things don't always go according to plan."The trail plane came over the top of the lead plane and hit the top of us, so the impact caused our right wing to fold up, and break off into a big fireball," Robinson continued. "The experience we had was an aircraft accident, it wasn't a skydiving accident. It was the skydiving that saved us.” Luckily, all 9 skydivers and both pilots were experienced professionals. "My thought process was to get away from the debris, there were little parts around us everywhere on fire," said Robinson. "We all did what we had to to survive that experience and we did. That kind of skydive requires a fair amount of skill, so a newbie wouldn't be allowed to go on a jump like that." The crash didn't deter people from giving skydiving a try, as Merissa Wellman jumped for her first time today."I think it's something that's a little indescribable, it's just that feeling of complete freedom," said Wellman, who had no fears whatsoever. "It was more excited apprehension. But I wouldn't say scared or nervous at all, I felt really safe." After the crash, Skydive Superior started the Miracle 11 Foundation, which has already raised over 10 thousand dollars for aviation–related charities. "I don't think you could ever in any way recreate this crash and have everybody survive, so it's just amazing that 11 people survived that experience," Robinson said.  Reflecting on the accident one year later, all 11 survivors know they lived through what was nearly a tragedy, but ended a miracle.