'Doing what she loved': Skydive pilot killed in plane crash near Niagara Falls

A 26-year-old pilot was killed in a skydiving flight plane crash after her passengers exited the aircraft near Niagara Falls.

Melanie Georger was the only person onboard the plane when the aircraft crashed at the Niagara Scenic Parkway shortly before noon Saturday as it was heading back to the airport, according to the Niagara Country Sheriff's Office. Firefighters extinguished the flames at the scene.

The aircraft was a single-engine Cessna 208B that crashed near a road in Youngstown, New York less than 15 miles away from Niagara Falls, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The flight was through Skydive the Falls, a center in Youngstown that offers close aerial views to the Niagara Falls.

USA TODAY has reached out to Skydive the Falls for comment and did not immediately hear back.

Melanie working to become a commercial pilot

A Tonawanda-native, Georger was training to become commercial pilot for an airline company, her father Paul wrote on Facebook.

"My beloved daughter, my best friend and one of the two lights of my life passed away suddenly today. Melanie was a pilot, on the cusp of realizing her dream to fly for the airlines. She was doing what she loved, flying for a local skydiving company, when her plane crashed," Paul wrote."

Paul added that his daughter was flying back to pick another load of skydivers when the plane crashed and said he is experiencing the worst week of his life.

"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," he added.

She became a certified private pilot in July 2021, according Eagle East Aviation, a flight school in North Andover, Massachusetts.

First time skydiver says he's 'blessed to still be around'

Jeffrey Walker from Elma said he was skydiving for the first time Saturday before the plane crashed, according to WIVB-TV.

"For some reason God left me on Earth and I’m just blessed to still be around," Walker told the station. "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.”