Says Instructor Shielded His Daughter

Words of praise from an Australian father, to the skydiving instructor who was on a DeHavilland Twin Otter carrying jumpers for Quantum Leap Skydiving Center Saturday, that went down in a neighborhood near St. Louis, MO shortly after takeoff. Bill Dear says the last thing 22-year-old sky diving instructor Robert Cook did was save his daughter's life.

Kimberly Dear is one of only two people who survived the accident, that claimed six lives. She was vacationing in the US when she decided to take a ride in the Twin Otter (file photo, above). She and another passenger are still hospitalized with serious injuries... but Kimberly's family says she's alive today only because of what Cook did to save her: shielding Kimberly, when he realized the plane was in trouble.

"(He said) I'm going to clip you to me so that I take the major brunt of the impact and hope for the best," Kimberly's sister, Tracy, told The Australian.

"There are no words that I can say, and nothing I could ever do, that would ever come close to expressing the sense of gratitude and admiration and respect I have for the guy," said Bill Dear. "The only words you can say is that he is her hero."

Bill says Kimberly is expected to stay in the hospital for several weeks... before she can go home to Melbourne.

An NTSB investigator says it may have been engine failure that brought down the Twin Otter... but it's too soon to tell for certain.

**   Report created 8/1/2006   Record 2
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IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 203E        Make/Model: DHC6      Description: DHC-6 Twin Otter (UV-18, CC-138)
  Date: 07/29/2006     Time: 1845

  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: Fatal     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Destroyed

LOCATION
  City: SULLIVAN   State: MO   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
  N203E, A DEHAVILLAND DHC-6 TWIN OTTER ACFT, ON TAKE OFF CLIPPED A POWERLINE
  AND CRASHED, THERE WERE EIGHT PERSONS ON BOARD, SIX WERE FATALLY INJURED,
  AND 2 SUSTAINED SERIOUS INJURIES, SULLIVAN, MO

INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   6
                 # Crew:   1     Fat:   1     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Pass:   7     Fat:   5     Ser:   2     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   

WEATHER: KSUS 291854Z COR 220008KT 10SM SCT060 SCT100 36/22 A2998

OTHER DATA

  Departed: SULLIVAN, MO                Dep Date:    Dep. Time:     
  Destination:                          Flt Plan:              Wx Briefing: Y
  Last Radio Cont: 
  Last Clearance: 

  FAA FSDO: ST. LOUIS, MO  (CE03)                 Entry date: 07/31/2006

FMI: www.ntsb.gov