‘I hope it doesn’t hit me’: Skydiver’s near-miss with light aircraft

An experienced skydiver says he is lucky to be alive after a mid-air near-miss with a light aircraft in South Australia.

Matthew Muth was one of four skydivers who took off on a routine jump on Sunday.

But the group had no way of knowing they were on a collision course with a Cessna that had been privately hired from Parafield Airport.

“We exited at about 12,000 feet and we broke apart, and we all opened up at about 3000 feet,” Mr Muth said.

“There was a plane about the same height as me heading directly towards me.

“It was close enough for me to read the tail number.”

Mr Muth ended up just 200 metres from the Cessna with air safety officials confirming the potential catastrophe is now under investigation.

“I hope it doesn’t hit me, so I turned away from it,” he said.

“(The pilot) saw that, it saw me and started climbing away from me.”

All four skydivers were able to land safely, but the chief instructor said it was the closest call he’s seen in 30 years.

“(The pilot) made no excuses. He just said he was in the wrong place,” Allan Gray.said.

“He did hear the call that we were skydiving and he thought he was somewhere else.”

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau and CASA will speak with the pilot as part of its investigation.

“It’s a very dangerous situation, you’ve got aircraft among skydivers. (It’s) not a good mix,” pilot Michel Adams said.