DECATUR, Texas — A single-engine plane carrying 21 skydivers and a pilot crashed shortly after takeoff from an airfield east of Decatur on Saturday, injuring at least five people but killing no one, a Department of Public Safety official said.
"It was traumatic. But I was expecting to see a lot worse," said Danny Timmons, a jumpmaster who was in the hangar at the private field from which the plane tookoff.
Timmons said he heard the crash at about 12:30 p.m. and ran three-quarters of a mile through mud, losing both shoes, to find most of the skydivers already out of the plane.
The plane, piloted by Tom Bishop, was about 150 feet in the air when it banked to the right, leveled off, and struck the ground tail-first before skidding into a grove of trees, the Wise County sheriff's office said.
"If he hadn't been flying, I believe there would be dead people," Timmons said of Bishop. "He brought it down in the safest manner he could."
Timmons said most of those on the plane were experienced skydivers who jump each weekend. He said injuries were mostly broken legs and ribs.
Bishop and his wife, Jean, own Skydive Texas which is based at Bishop Airport, a private airfield between Decatur and Denton. It was not known if Jean Bishop was on the plane. Decatur is 40 miles northwest of Fort Worth. No one answered the telephone at the company office.
Texas DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange said the injured were taken to hospitals by helicopter. One person was listed in serious condition, three were stable and one was fair, she said.
"My heart just fell," said Renee Thrasher, a Bishop family friend who drove to the crash site. "They're wonderful family friends. Jean has been there when I've needed anything. The whole family has."
Marty Deiss, who lives less than a mile from the field, said she had seen many skydiving trips taking off and landing. "I would have no problem flying with them," she said.
The FAA spokesman said the airplane was a 1956 Dehavilland, fitted out for parachuting.
On the Net: FAA: www.faa.gov
Texas Department of Public Safety: www.txdps.state.tx.us
Skydive Texas: www.skydivetexas.com