Plane crash survivor says he's not sure he'll try skydiving again

DECATUR, Texas (AP) — Rob Franklin's skydiving dreams are on hold for now.

Instead of making his maiden jump Saturday, Franklin, 32, ended up with a broken foot, concussion, gashes in his head and lip and a sore back when the skydiving school's plane went down in a field north of Fort Worth with 22 aboard. At least five others also were injured, one seriously.

Franklin, a firefighter in the Dallas suburb of Lancaster, said he heard pilot Tom Bishop utter an expletive before he looked out the window and saw trees and grass fast approaching.

“I was looking straight at the ground and that's all I really remember,” Franklin said Sunday from his hospital bed in Fort Worth. “The next thing I remember is waking up laying on the ground. They told me I walked away from the plane, but I don't remember that.”

Franklin, William Rhodes, 28, and Glenn Hodgson, 31, were all in fair condition Sunday at Harris Methodist Fort Worth hospital, while Tim Trudeau, 45, was in serious condition, said Laura Van Hoosier, a hospital spokeswoman.

“They all have orthopedic-type injuries,” she said.

Two victims whose names were not released were in good condition at John Peter Smith Hospital, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. A 34-year-old man was being treated for neck injuries and a 33-year-old man was being treated for leg injuries.

Bishop, 58, said the takeoff was normal until the plane, a 1956 DeHavilland single-engine Otter, reached about 300 feet. He said a wing was caught by a “dust devil,” a whirlwind that normally travels along the ground like a small tornado and becomes visible because of the dust it sucks into the air.

“Eyewitness reports said they saw the dust devil,” Bishop said Sunday. “We hit one about two weeks ago that shook us up pretty bad. It's very strange at this time of year to have those things.”

The plane skidded into a grove of trees and its left wing snapped off.

Bishop said Skydive Texas, the school owned by him and his wife, Jean, planned to fly Sunday.

Skydive Texas is based at Bishop Airport, a private airfield east of Decatur, about 40 miles north of Fort Worth.
A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said Sunday an investigation into the cause of the crash was continuing.

Franklin, who was preparing to jump while strapped to an instructor, said he had always wanted to skydive, but isn't sure if he'll try it again.

“It's something I've always wanted to do and I got the opportunity, so I took it,” Franklin said. “It wasn't a fun day.”

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