The pilot who died in crash after releasing skydivers near Niagara Falls has been identified

A view of the entrance to the Rainbow Bridge where the border crossing between the U.S. and Canada has been closed after a vehicle exploded at a checkpoint on a bridge near Niagara Falls, Ont., Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Carlos Osorio

NEW YORK -

Officials on Sunday released the name of a pilot who died in a skydiving flight after her passengers jumped from the aircraft near the Niagara Falls.

Melanie Georger, 26, was the only person on board when the single-engine Cessna crashed Saturday, the Niagara Country Sheriff's Office said in a statement. Georger, of Towanda, New York, was working to become a commercial pilot, her father said Saturday in a statement on Facebook.

“My beloved daughter, my best friend and one of the two lights of my life passed away suddenly today,” Paul Georger wrote. “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.”

The skydiving company, identified by Sheriff's Office as Skydive the Falls, did not immediately respond to email and social media messages requesting comment Sunday morning. A person answering a phone number listed on the company's website hung up. The company advertises a scenic flyover of Niagara Falls before each skydive.

One of the skydivers on a flight with Georger right before the one that crashed said he felt blessed to be alive and lamented that her life was cut short.

“Why didn't it happen when I was up there? Why didn't it happen when we were all on the plane?” said first-time jumper Jeffrey Walker. He described the events as “surreal.”

He said was unconcerned by the pilot's youth, and that she checked in with him personally and shared encouraging words about his tandem skydiving partner, boosting his confidence before he jumped.

“I giver her props for wanting to do what she was doing," he said. “I really feel bad for the business and the company she was working for, because they're a great company. I thought the did a great job training.”

The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that the airplane was a single-engine Cessna 208B. It crashed near a road in Youngstown, fewer than 15 miles (24 kilometers) from Niagara Falls. The National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation into the crash.