EAST TROY, Wis. (AP) — Most skydivers spend their weekends chasing adrenaline.

A group of jumpers in southeastern Wisconsin recently got far more excitement than they bargained for when an ordinary day at the drop zone suddenly turned into a real-life rescue mission.

The skydivers were aboard their aircraft preparing for a jump near East Troy when they noticed another small plane in the area. According to witnesses, the aircraft appeared to bank and then disappear behind a tree line. When it failed to emerge, a troubling realization began to spread through the cabin. [

“We all looked at each other and said, ‘Did we just see a plane crash?'” skydiver John Bechtel recalled.

Moments earlier, the group had been focused on their own jump. Suddenly, nobody was thinking about recreation anymore.

Instead of continuing with a routine skydive, the jumpers coordinated with their pilot and moved toward the suspected crash area. Then they did something that sounds as though it belongs in a Hollywood movie script rather than a Wisconsin cornfield.

They jumped.

One after another, the skydivers descended under their parachutes toward the accident scene below. The group landed near the crash site and rushed to assist.

For the occupants of the downed aircraft, surviving a plane crash was only the beginning of a surreal sequence of events. Imagine climbing out of a wrecked airplane and then looking up to see people literally falling from the sky to help.

Yet that’s exactly what happened.

According to reports, one of the skydivers happened to be a former paramedic. That fortunate coincidence proved especially valuable because one of the crash victims reportedly had suffered a serious head injury. While waiting for emergency medical personnel to arrive, the former paramedic was able to provide critical assistance.

Authorities later said all four people aboard the crashed plane survived. The incident remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The rescue has attracted widespread attention because of the extraordinary chain of coincidences that made it possible.

First, the skydivers happened to be airborne at the exact moment the accident occurred. Second, they witnessed the crash unfold from a vantage point most people never experience. Third, they were uniquely equipped to reach a location that may have been difficult for others to access quickly. And finally, one of the rescuers possessed emergency medical training.

Had any one of those pieces been missing, the story might have ended very differently.

Stories of ordinary citizens stepping up in emergencies are common enough. Stories of ordinary citizens parachuting into emergencies are considerably rarer.

The event also highlights an often-overlooked aspect of the skydiving community. While outsiders frequently associate the sport with risk-taking and thrill-seeking, experienced skydivers undergo extensive training, place a premium on safety and are accustomed to making quick decisions under pressure.

In this case, those skills were put to use for someone else’s benefit.

The image is almost impossible to improve upon: a small plane crashes into a field, survivors struggle to comprehend what has happened, and then, as if summoned by some unseen force, help begins floating down from the clouds.

Emergency responders eventually arrived by more conventional means.

But for a brief period, the first people on the scene were not police officers, firefighters or paramedics.

They were skydivers.

And they got there the fastest way they knew how.