Video: Skydivers jump to safety after planes collide in midair

Video: Skydivers jump to safety after planes collide in midair

Preparing for their final jump of the day, two skydivers make their way onto a step outside their Cessna flying 12,000 feet in the air. Below them is a second Cessna.

As they are about to make their jump, the two planes collide, ripping a wing off one and damaging the other. Miraculously, all nine skydivers and both pilots survived.

And now there is video of the incident.

NBC's "exclusive" comes with a caveat: the organization reportedly paid for it, with sources telling the Washington Post the skydivers will receive north of $100,000 for the footage. This so-called "checkbook journalism" is typically frowned upon by news organizations.

Regardless, the footage is dramatic.

The pilot of the damaged plane evacuated using an emergency parachute. The other pilot was able to land the plane safely.

"We were just a few seconds away from having a normal skydive when the trail plane came over the top of the lead aircraft and came down on top of it," instructor Mike Robinson told the Associated Press. "It turned into a big flash fireball, and the wing separated.

"All of us knew we had a crash. … The wing over our head was gone, so we just left."