A Jodel airplane struck a woman skiing in the French Alps Thursday, nearly severing her hand with the propeller, Agence France-Presse reported. The airplane, equipped with skis, was departing from a high-altitude runway near the mountain resort at Avoriaz, but something went wrong and the Jodel careened down the ski slope below a chairlift, just missing a group of children before hitting the 55-year-old Polish skier. She was taken to a local hospital by helicopter. “We only narrowly avoided a catastrophe,” a firefighter said.
“The plane suddenly appeared behind her and there was virtually no sound. She didn’t hear it,” said public prosecutor Patrick Steinmetz, whose office is investigating the accident. The unnamed pilot, who had one passenger in the single-engine Jodel, was said to be familiar with departures from snowy mountain runways, as Steinmetz said the pilot is “a professional who is used to these kind of conditions.” The aircraft was removed Thursday night and the ski run has been closed until the end of May.
