Honda Skydiving Plane Crashes, Kills Two
The DAY AFTER a team of Honda-promoting skydivers performed a formation for a live UK TV advertisement, the plane used for the stunt has crashed. The accident killed the pilot and a skydiver. According to The Daily Telegraph, a total of ten skydivers attempted to exit the stricken plane as "one of the aircraft's wings snapped off and it plunged to the ground, where it burst into flames." The paper also reports that "Honda and Channel 4 said they did not believe any of the skydivers involved in the accident had taken part in the filming of the advert." Clearly, our warning that the stunt could prove a human and PR catastrophe had a firm basis in reality. Whether or not the tragedy will prevent future live stunts remains to be seen.
More by Robert Farago
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Is 2 person died, is no fun whichever way it cut. Perhaps the plane fuselage was overloaded so it cracked. Just like any stress fracture in our cars, but a car is not as deadly as a plane. Very sorry for the ones who perished.
RF, You are truly an oracle! (sad for the people involved, of course)
Was this Hondas new jet? Piloted by ASSIMO?
There seems to be some confusion over Honda's use of the word "live" here. The successful jump, as used in the ad, shows the team spell out Honda - IN A SINGLE, UNEDITED TAKE. That is not the same as a 'live' ad, i.e. one where if it goes wrong, the viewing public watch them fail, or worse, fall to their deaths, in glorious realtime. Ergo, there is no 'risk' to Honda. Had they been preparing the ad when the plane crashed, likely as not it'd be front page news in a local Spanish paper that 'a plane used for corporate filming had crashed' or somesuch, and we'd be none the wiser.