KUALA LUMPUR: A French pilot has been banned from flying after he decapitated a skydiver's head with the wing of his plane in 2018.
Nicolas Galy, 40, died when he collided with the wing of the plane just seconds after his jump, tearing his head clean off his shoulders and killing him instantly.
He was one of ten parachutists aboard the flight and one of two passengers taking part in the skydive over Bouloc-en-Quercy, near Toulouse, France at around 14,000ft clad in a sleek wingsuit.
According to the Daily Mail, the pilot, named in French media only as 64-year-old Alain C., was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter on Tuesday by Montauban criminal court, and was given a suspended sentence.
The Midi-Pyrénées Skydiving School Association, which Alain worked for, was fined €20,000 and French media reported that half of that fine was suspended.
Alain previously told the court that the incident was 'the tragedy of my life', but insisted he had not done anything wrong and blamed Galy for deviating from his flight plan, claiming he had behaved recklessly and suffered the consequences.
According to French Newspaper Le Parisien, there had been no consultation on the flight path after the jump.
However, he insisted that Galy, an experienced parachutist with 226 jumps, "did not follow the expected course and never should have been on that course."
"He was parallel to the plane... It wasn't my responsibility, I think my flight path made sense.
"This has been the tragedy of my life but I am not at fault," he said in court.
The court also found that Alain had flown the plane with an invalid licence as France's aviation authority had restricted his flying privileges due to a medical condition.