posted Nov 9th, 2010 - Shocking news for the Formation Skydiving community had just arrived from Australia last month after Fiona McEachern, Chair of IPC's Formation Skydiving Committee, had died in a midair collision on September 25.

November 3rd was another bad day for the same skydiving community and many more. Shannon Pilcher, 4-way world champion of 2006 with DeLand Fire, had a very serious accident in the Swiss Alpes. The good news is the fact that he has survived severe injuries and is recovering.

The local police reported the accident without many details:

"A man crashed in a parachute jump on Wednesday morning in the Doldenhorn region (Kandersteg community) after he flew into the cables of a transportation cart. He was severely injured.

On Wednesday, 3 November 2010, at approx. 10:45 am, a group of ten experienced parachutists jumped from 12,000 feet over the region of Doldenhorn and flew across the Fisialp. In the 'Schleife', one of the parachutists hit the cables of the transportation cart for unknown reasons.

The cable ripped the lines of the parachute, and the man fell to the ground where he first bounced and then fell another 40 meters from a cliff down to a snow field. The seriously injured sportsman had to be rescued by helicopter with a longline method. He was transported and admitted to the hospital in critical condition."

The "Schleife" is a special part of the high-mountain landscape in the "Fisialp", which is a part of the Swiss Alpes in the Doldenhorn region. Kandersteg is a small town, close to the area where the complete PD Factory Team was running its 2010 Swiss Alpes Expedition.

Shannon Pilcher's accident on November 3rd followed a few other smaller accidents and incidents during this expedition. Shannon Pilcher himself reported some trouble in a Facebook message on October 30th:

"Friends, after a day like today, I’m just grateful. Grateful to God that I will live to see another day. Grateful to my friends and teammates for supporting me during and after the incident. Grateful that Ian Drennan and Bruno Brokken didn’t follow me. And grateful that I will see my family again. One wrong turn, that’s all it took for me to suddenly be – as we like to say – in 'the scariest environment imaginable."

This happened three days before the actual accident, and Shannon Pilcher provided some details of the problems on the earlier flight:

"I’m too exhausted to go into detail here, but basically, I lost my bearings early and flew into the wrong glacier field, above and behind our intended mountain-top entry point. After several thousand feet of unrecognizable terrain, the horror hit. I was committed to a route with an unknown ending. Nothing to do but continue to fly and try to survive. The fissures and cracks eventually spit me out above a gorge which runs perpendicular to Lauterbrunnen, where the rest of my team had landed. I hit the brakes, flew out over the gorge to catch a quick glance at the rocky, tree-covered bottom, and instinctually opted for the side of the mountain, not knowing if I would be fortunate enough to find a flat spot, or if the terrain beneath the snow – which on the surface always looks soft and white – would surprise me with trees, or boulders, or ice.

God must have a greater purpose for me in this life because he granted me a soft landing on a small, snowy incline about 3,000 feet above the valley floor, and cell phone signal, which made it immeasurably easier for the rescue helicopter to find me the fading sunlight. Within an hour I was back on the ground having a beer with my team, all of us sharing in the lessons that this incident brings."

The PD Factory Team reacted to this and another incident, as Pablo Hernandez posted later:

"Yesterday, as you guys know, we had a couple of serious incidents, Shannon didn't make it to the landing zone in one of the runs and the helicopter had to rescue him.

The jump prior to Shannon's rescue, JC hit and cut a telephone wire while he was filming Jay on his swoop. Nothing stops the big bear, if that would have happened to me, I would be cut into 2 slices!

Those incidents made us think about what we were doing wrong and we decided to take it a bit more easy today."

Then came November 3rd, and team member Ian Drennan reported bad weather and another previous accident:

"Well, Day 9 brought with it the worst weather we've had on the trip so far, with low fog and clouds settling in. Bummer. The Team decided to use the time to visit, and harass, Brian Vacher who was injured in a minor speed flying accident.

Brian dislocated his right hip while performing a landing in difficult terrain after making the decision to abort his run when he felt unable to safely make the next ridge line, forcing him to land in a sloped landing area where he struck his hip while doing a PLF. A few nearby hikers helped Brian into their car and drove him to the hospital. The Dr's are happy with his progress, and he will be up and about tomorrow to begin working the area affected. Besides the ever present handicap of being British (just kidding to all our Brit readers out there!), Brian will be out for a few weeks, but will be 100% in no time. JC also took to roaming the halls gathering various pieces of Dr's garments for amusement.

Things are starting to look really good over the next few days with the weather, and I'm excited to get back in the Alps - it already feels like it's been way too long."

There were no further updates by PD Factory Team members on the expedition until Jason Moledzki posted sad news on the evening of November 3rd:

"Shannon Picher has been involved in an accident here in Switzerland. He is stable but greatly needs your prayers and love. His family has been notified. We will update as more info becomes available. Please keep speculation to a minimum until we can relay accurate information."

Ever since, the updates have reported the progress of Shannon Pilcher's recovery after the accident. Hundreds of messages from friends and fans all over the world have been posted on Facebook to support his healing process after several surgeries. The NSL News will follow up with more information.