26-Year-Old Pilot Killed in Crash After Skydivers Jump From Her Plane Near Niagara Falls

A pilot was killed in a plane crash Saturday after skydivers jumped from her plane near Niagara Falls .

Melanie Georger , 26, had turned around to land the Skydive the Falls aircraft after all divers were released when the plane crashed, Niagara County Sheriff's Office said in a statement . Georger was the only person onboard at the time of the crash.

Georger's father, Paul, said her dream was to fly for commercial airlines .

"My beloved daughter, my best friend and one of the two lights of my life passed away suddenly," the young pilot's father posted on Facebook . "My life is much darker today and will remain so for a long time. To my tweety pie, my girlie, my beloved and my heart, I’m already looking forward to the day that we reunite and I will have a huge hole in my heart and a never ending ache until then."

The skydiving company, Skydive the Falls, did not respond to Inside Edition Digital's request for comment.

A skydiver who was on Georger's plane 30 minutes before it crashed told WIVB he was thankful to be alive.

"For some reason God left me on Earth and I'm just blessed to still be around," Jeffrey Walker told WIVB. "It's just an eerie feeling that I was on that plane literally a half hour before it crashed. Why didn't it crash with us on it? Why didn't it crash with more people on it? It's surreal."

Georger earned her private pilot certificate in July 2021, according to a Facebook post from Eagle East Aviation.

The aircraft Georger was flying was a single-engine Cessna 208B, according to a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration, CBS News reported .

The investigation is ongoing, the Niagara County Sheriff's Office said.The National Transportation Safety Board will reportedly lead the investigation into the cause of the crash.

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