Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'articles'.
Found 87 results
-
PENSACOLA, Florida. (AP) - An experienced aerial photographer plummeted 11,000 feet to his death Thursday after his parachutes became entangled and failed to open. John Foster, 37, was videotaping a skydiving instructor and a student when his main parachute became entangled with his reserve chute, and both failed to open. He landed in a field in Elberta, Ala., and was taken to a Pensacola hospital, where he died. He had head and leg injuries, a hospital spokeswoman said. The chutes getting tangled was a freak accident, said Pat Stack, who works for Emerald Coast Skydiving and was the drop zone manager for the jump. "It's just not something that happens," she said. Stack said Foster had made 6,000 to 7,000 jumps and often was hired to record other divers' jumps. "He jumped all the time. He loved the sport," Stack told the Pensacola News Journal.
-
ROME (AP) A 27-year-old woman from San Francisco died Sunday after her parachute failed to open fully during a jump in the Italian Alps, news reports said. Erin Aimee Engle plunged to her death on Mount Brento while base jumping, an extreme sport in which people jump from cliffs or other fixed objects using parachutes. Mount Brento is one of the sport's most popular and dangerous locations. Engle was the fourth skydiver to die on the mountain since May 2000. The last incident took place two months ago when a Belgian jumper's parachute did not completely open. Engle's boyfriend, whom authorities would not name, immediately jumped after her in an effort to revive her, the ANSA news agency said. She was pronounced dead at a hospital in Trent, the main city of the northern Italian region of Trentino.
-
Dayton Township, USA - A 22-year-old Pennsylvania woman was killed skydiving Monday. Allison Hoffman of Allentown, a college student, was found dead in remote timber off East 1951 Road in Dayton Township. She is the eighth person to die in an accident since Skydive Chicago moved to Ottawa in 1993. For unknown reasons, Hoffman's parachute did not inflate, La Salle County Coroner Jody Bernard said Wednesday. An autopsy was scheduled for this morning, she added. The coroner's office, La Salle County Sheriff's Department and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the death, Bernard said. Skydive Chicago was in the news last year when a Missoula, Mont., man died after a mid-air collision with another skydiver. The business was attempting to break the world record for the number of skydivers in a free-fall formation. Three skydivers died within three weeks of each other in 1998. Skydive Chicago Program Director Roger Nelson could not be reached for comment. Hoffman was a culinary student at Johnson and Wales University in Miami, Fla. She was to have graduated in December, said Alicia Medina, academics administrator. When a student dies, the university often will start a collection to help the parents with funeral costs, she said. "Usually we will wait until the parents call us," Medina said. "We don't want to intrude. We usually do take a collection to help out the parents."
-
BATAVIA - Two skydivers were seriously injured yesterday when their parachutes malfunctioned after they had jumped in tandem from a plane at 19,000 feet. Genesee County sheriff's deputies were not releasing the names of the man and woman pending notification of relatives. One was flown to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, the other to Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo for broken bones and other undisclosed injuries. They were conscious upon transport, Deputy County Manager Frank Ciaccia said. Their conditions were not available last night. The man and woman were experienced members of a skydiving group that was participating in the Batavia Boogie, an annual skydiving event that has been held at the Genesee County Airport for years, said Ciaccia. He did not know the name of the group but said he thought they were from Orleans County. The Batavia Boogie started Friday and was to conclude Sunday. Inclement weather postponed Sunday's events, which were held yesterday. The accident occurred about 11:40 a.m. The skydivers were using the same parachute and free-fell about 5,000 feet, as planned, before discovering their main chute wouldn't open, Ciaccia said. They pulled the emergency chute at 10,000 feet, but it either partially opened or functioned improperly because of a tear in the chute, county officials said. The divers landed in a field half a mile north of the airport runway, between Bank Street and State Street Road. Members of the Genesee County sheriff's office, state police, the county emergency management coordinator and Mercy Flight -- a medical helicopter transport company -- responded within minutes, Ciaccia said. Mercy Flight flew one patient, and a state police helicopter transported the other. No one else was injured. A crowd of perhaps 25 people witnessed the accident, Ciaccia said. The Federal Aviation Administration was notified and conducted an investigation. About 20 single parachute jumps had gone off without incident yesterday before the accident. The tandem jump was the second one yesterday.
-
Years from now, when Tonguc Yaman recounts his adventure to his children, it may go something like this: Drove the Harley to Sussex Airport. Strapped on the parachute. Jumped out of a Cessna. Went home. Slept. Forgive him if he fails to mention the part about the chute collapsing in a freak wind, the freefall to the ground, and the helicopter ride to the trauma center. Because for Yaman, the thrill of sky diving and the memories of 99 previous leaps from airplanes far outweigh his brush with disaster Saturday. "I want to do it again," a slightly beat-up Yaman, 34, said from his home in Tenafly on Sunday. "Whenever my leg stops aching." It's an attitude that his trainer, Bud Mazeiko of Skydive Sussex, explained like this: "Just because you have a car accident doesn't mean you're never going to drive again." It's hard to believe that less than a day earlier, Yaman fell the final 30 of 10,000 feet near Sussex County Airport -- and that mere hours after he was admitted as a top-priority patient to Morristown Memorial Hospital, he headed home with little to show but some heavy-duty bruises. The bruises will fade, for sure, but the tale will last a lifetime. A veteran jumper for four years -- since his wife, Ute, gave him lessons as a birthday gift -- Yaman, a finance specialist, wanted to mark his 100th jump in style. On Saturday morning, he hopped on his Harley and headed to Sussex with plans to meet up with his wife and two children to celebrate afterward with a barbecue feast at a friend's house. The 100th leap was to be his second of the day, and it started like any other. In the Cessna, Yaman and three other divers reached 10,000 feet and jumped, each with a plan to join hands, then break apart and activate their chutes. "I approached them slowly and connected with them," Yaman recalled. "It was beautiful. I was thinking, 'Yeah! This is nice -- my 100th jump!' " At 5,000 feet, the divers broke off as planned. Yaman dropped another 2,000 feet, getting ready to ride upwind, crosswind, and downwind to a safe landing. He pulled the cord to activate the chute. Then came what Yaman called "a crazy wind," a freak draft from the side that struck his parachute. "It just folded and closed. I tried to open it, tried to make it full again." One side of the parachute ballooned, but the other remained limp. Thirty feet from the landing zone, the chute waved above him like a handkerchief, and it was far too late to deploy the backup. As he zoomed toward earth, did he think about death? "I wasn't thinking about emotions," Yaman said. "There is no time for those things. It is a second or a split-second, and you better get a parachute over your head." He smacked into the landing zone, a grassy target made soft by recent rains. "I wasn't dead, but I knew I was hurt," he recalled. "The ambulance guys came. They tried to close my mouth but I told them, 'I want to have fresh air.' " When he next saw his wife, it was in the trauma center at Morristown, after a Medevac flight. An MRI and X-rays showed no internal injuries, and Yaman insisted on going home. For the pain, he took exactly one aspirin. Yaman credited his survival with hours of training with Mazeiko and the staff at Skydive Sussex, who taught him to head for a grass landing zone, and who never fly over buildings, cars, or asphalt. All of which will be on his mind for the 101st leap.
-
A QUEENSLAND skydiver has cheated death, sustaining only minor injuries when his parachute hit power lines. The experienced Townsville skydiver is expected to be released from hospital tomorrow after being treated for a chipped bone in his heel. Coral Sea Skydivers chief instructor Richard Pym said the skydiver misjudged the wind while attempting to parachute into Townsville's Bicentennial Park last night. The man missed the park, landing across the road near an industrial bin. Mr Pym said that during the landing the man's parachute hit power lines. The man is believed to be a Townsville builder who had completed 130 successful parachute jumps.
-
SYDNEY (Reuters) - For some of the best paratroopers in the United States and Australia, men used to jumping into war zones, it was supposed to be a routine night mission. But 52 of them hit the ground with a thud, breaking bones and spraining ankles during a recent joint military exercise called Tandem Thrust in the Australian state of Queensland. A total of 39 soldiers were hurt on impact -- nine with broken bones -- and another 13 have since reported injuries such as ankle sprains, an official said. The 381 paratroopers on the night jump came from the U.S. Army's crack Geronimo 501, the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, and Australia's rapid-deployment 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment. But with little visibility last Saturday, the crack paratroopers did what they are trained not to do -- reach for the ground with their toes. "Night jumping is typically more dangerous because it is difficult to see the ground," U.S. Lieutenant Colonel Bobby Campbell told Reuters on Friday. Campbell said the conditions were perfect for the jump with little breeze, except there was no moon to light up the ground. "The soldiers reached for the ground with their toes, something they are trained not to do," said Campbell. Campbell said injuries were to be expected in night jumps, but they were a critical training exercise for the U.S. and Australia, citing the arc of Asian-Pacific instability to Australia's north. "It is a capacity both the United States and Australia needs to maintain for its strategic interests in the region," he said.
-
Geoff Peggs, Age 21, died in a skydiving accident on Friday, June 15th in Wichita, Kansas. Geoff was making his 5th or 6th jump with a Birdman suit when he exited the Cessna 182 from 11,000 feet. Witnesses on the ground observed deployment at an estimated 4,000 feet AGL. The main parachute started to spin immediately after deployment and continued until impact. The Coroner stated that the injuries sustained upon impact caused immediate death. Two USPA S&TA;'s, in cooperation with the Sedgwick County Sheriff and Coroners office conducted the investigation at the scene. The investigation showed that the right suspension lines were routed under Geoff's right arm and wrapped tightly around his right leg. The slider was wrapped around his right foot.. The canopy, a cobalt 150, was fully deployed but with this "horsehoe" malfunction the canopy started an unrecoverable spin. The cutaway handle was unaccessible because of the way the suspension lines pressed the birdman wing against his body, totally covering the cutaway handle. It is the consensus of the two S&TA;'s investigating this incident that even if Geoff could have cut away, the suspension lines were so severely wrapped around the arms, legs, and foot that it would not have made a difference in clearing the malfunction. The reserve was not deployed, but the reserved handle was dislodged, most likely as a result of impact. The S&TA;'s concur in their opinion that this incident was probably the result of deploying in an unstable body position. We have no way of knowing for sure if the Birdman suit was the only contributing factor, but since Geoff was a jumper with approx 300 jumps and no history of problems prior to this incident, Geoff's limited experience with the Birdman suit was most likely a factor in creating an unstable body position at deployment, resulting in a horsehoe malfunction. Unfortunately, because of the nature of this particular situation, Geoff was left with little or no options to correct the situation. Geoff was an INCREDIBLE guy. He seemed to fit in wherever he jumped and truly had a passion for skydiving. He was a student at Kansas State University and was planning an exciting career in aviation. He will be greatly missed by all of us. The funeral arrangments are being handled by Downing & Lahey Mortuary in Wichita, Kansas (316) 682-4553. The funeral is scheduled for Wednesday, June 20th. Please call the mortuary for the exact time. I think the best thing we can do to show our support for Geoff's family is to attend the funeral. The family knows how much skydiving meant to Geoff. We need to show them how much Geoff meant to us. God Speed Geoff! Phil Haase, Owner Air Capital Skydiving Center Wichita, Kansas (316)776-1700
-
On Sunday June 10th @ about 1.50pm 45 year old Peter Tome an experienced skydiver with 600+ jumps and 10 years in the sport, along with two other experienced skydivers made a 3 way headdown skydive from the Twin Otter @ Skydive Delmarva. The dive was uneventful until break off at 6,000 ft. At break off as Pete tracked away another jumper on the dive observed what is believed to have been Pete's main bridle flapping on his back. It is believed that the pin extracted from the main pack tray and that a horseshoe malfunction occurred. It is believed that Pete was unable to extract the pilot chute from its pouch and was left with no other option but to cutaway and deploy his reserve parachute. The main canopy was held in the D-bag by one rubber band stow that contained some of the lines from the group. The reserve freebag did not completely clear the reserve and the bulk of the reserve canopy remained held in the freebag by one rubber band stow. Partial inflation of the reserve canopy occurred pulling Pete vertical. He was observed by others on the load and ground observers to be attempting to clear the problem until impact on the grass runway at which time he died immediately. We at Skydive Delmarva all feel a great loss and sorrow in losing our good friend today. We will miss you Pete, God Speed and God Bless You. Your friends and family at Skydive Delmarva.
-
A SKYDIVER who plummeted 13,000ft to earth with his bride after their main parachute failed to open spoke yesterday about the accident. Kevin McIlwee, 47, said from his hospital bed in France: "I didn't have time to think whether we were going to get through it or not." He said, however, that as he fought to control the descent over the town of Vannes in Brittany, he confided to his wife of six weeks, Beverley, 44, who was strapped in front of him: "We might not make it." Watching colleagues did not expect them to survive, but the couple, who had regularly skydived in tandem, crash-landed on grass, escaping with severe leg injuries. Mr McIlwee, a maths teacher from De la Salle College, Jersey, said that their main parachute failed to open at the regulation 5,000ft when they made their jump on Sunday.He said: "I found I just couldn't jettison the chute. I tried to engage the reserve chute but the two couldn't fly side by side." Mr McIlwee, a skydiving instructor who has made more than 4,000 jumps, said: "The parachutes were continually tangling and I was doing my best to control them. I have no idea at what speed we hit the ground. We were very lucky. We could have been a lot worse." Mr McIlwee suffered a badly broken leg and his wife, the manager of the Seabird Hotel chain in Jersey, suffered broken bones in both feet, and a broken knee and shin bone. The couple are expected to travel home to Jersey by air ambulance in about a week. Mrs McIlwee, who has enjoyed skydiving for about five years, told her father, Dennis Murtaugh, by telephone that she intended to give up the sport. She has had metal plates inserted in her legs and will be in a wheelchair for many weeks. Mr Murtaugh, 67, a theatre critic from Burnley, said: "She said she felt so lucky to be alive. She's usually such a bubbly person, but was understandably talking in a weak tone. She was very shook up, and was only just starting to realise that what had happened could have cost her life." "She said she was looking out of the window from her hospital bed enjoying seeing the daylight and the birds outside." Mr Murtaugh added: "Kevin is a hell of a fellow, and he knows what he is doing. I put it down to his experience as a skydiving expert that they are here today at all. It's a God-given miracle that they are both alive."
-
SAN MARCOS, Texas (AP) - A parachutist was killed instantly when she struck a plane's propeller while practicing a skydiving formation with 29 other jumpers. Michele Thibaudeau, 36, and eight other parachutists were in one airplane Sunday and the other 21 jumpers were on a second aircraft. After jumping, Thibaudeau hit the propeller of the other aircraft and was killed on impact, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman John Clabes said. Thibaudeau's boyfriend, who was last in line to jump from the plane, followed her body 14,000 feet to its impact in Fentress, according to Sky Dive San Marcos owner Phillip Chappell. The National Transportation Safety Board was investigating. "I've never heard of anything like that before," Clabes said. "You hear about fatalities when people jump out of planes and their chutes don't open, but not this." Thibaudeau, of Cartersville, Ga., had completed more than 850 jumps. All the parachutists had completed a minimum of 400 jumps, double the number the U.S. Parachute Association uses to determine expert status, Chappell said.
-
Lodi, May 27 - The San Joaquin County Sheriff's office reports that an Oakland man died Saturday after jumping with a group of parachutists, possibly from a mid-air emergency that might have started on the ground. "It appears that the decedent suffered some sort of a medical emergency during the jump which incapacitated him, disallowing him to properly and safely complete the landing," said spokesman Joe Herrera of the San Joaquin Sheriff's Department. An autopsy will be needed to determine the cause of death. The man has been identified as 52-year-old Daniel Paul Skarry, of Oakland. He was discovered by occupants of a home after he landed in the back yard, crashing down with his parachute between some trees on the property. Other jumpers made no mention of noticing anything unusual at the start, according to subsequent interviews with deputies. "The parachutist had been jumping for at least 15 years. He was one of 22 jumpers who had left Lodi Airport to jump in formation. The initial jump went fine and the decedent joined a group held together at the wrist," said Herrera. According to one of the jumpers holding the man's wrist, Skarry's grip became weaker, then gave way. They had started from an altitude of 15,000 feet. The group watched helplessly as Skarry got below them and seemed not to move, except where pushed by the wind, Herrera said. When he reached the 1,000-foot level, the parachute's automatic activation device switched itself on. He fell to the ground amid trees in a residential yard, Herrera said. The occupants of the house called for help. Skarry was taken by helicopter to the hospital at UC Davis, but was pronounced dead at 11:48 a.m. after medics unsuccessfully performed CPR, Herrera said. The Federal Aviation Administration will be notified of the incident, and the coroner's report may be conducted in Sacramento County, Herrera said. Skarry may have already had hypertension and diabetes, Herrera said.
-
A 35-year old Pretoria man died in Eugene Marais Hospital last night (13 May), hours after plunging several hundred metres to the ground in a parachuting accident at the Wonderboom airport late yesterday afternoon. Mark Farrell was the second man to die in a parachuting accident at the airport in the past month. Police spokesman, Superintendent Morné van Wyk, said Farrell had plunged to the ground when his parachute apparently became entangled at about 5:30pm. A hospital spokesman said Mr Farrell sustained serious injuries to his head, face and chest. He died at 7:25pm, almost two hours after the accident. Van Wyk said an inquest would be held to determine exactly what had gone wrong.
-
Army officials are investigating why a jumpmaster's reserve parachute activated inside an airplane Tuesday night causing him to be sucked out of the aircraft.Sgt. Yusefiman Wright was released from FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst on Friday, a spokesman said. Wright was being treated for fractured ribs and a cut on the chin, U.S. Army Special Operations Command officials said. The 28-year-old soldier from New Bern is assigned to the 528th Special Operations Support Battalion. "He is doing real well," said Barbara Ashley, a USASOC spokeswoman. "He said he has received a lot of support from his family and his friends in the unit and the Special Operations Support Command." The accident happened about 8 p.m. aboard a C-130 Hercules cargo plane flying over Moore County, officials said. "He was ejected from the aircraft due to the activation of his reserve parachute inside the aircraft during an airborne operation," said Sgt. 1st Class Pamela Smith, a spokesman for U.S. Army Special Operations command. Wright's main parachute opened during his fall, officials said. The battalion is reviewing safety procedures in airborne operations and the proper handling of reserve parachutes in aircraft, Smith said. "Being a jumpmaster is dangerous," Smith said. "The command regrets that this type of accident happened." Wright is declining interviews, Smith said.
-
A skydiver was in Perth Royal Infirmary last night after badly breaking a leg while at Strathallan airfield in Perthshire. It is believed the man, who has not yet been named, landed awkwardly at the end of an otherwise uneventful 2,000ft dive. The latest accident comes less than a month after Craig Paton fell hundreds of feet when his jump went wrong. He suffered serious internal injuries. Mr Paton, from Kilmarnock, was badly hurt because the canopy of his parachute failed to open and he hit the ground at over 40 miles per hour. He has since been discharged from hospital.
-
A member of the Navy's elite "Leap Frogs" skydiving team was recovering in a hospital Wednesday from injuries he suffered when a jump from 12,000 feet went awry near the U.S.-Mexico border. Malfunctioning chutes forced USN Senior Chief Kelly Hickman, 44, into a hard landing east of Brown Field airport in Otay Mesa during a routine jump Tuesday, according to 10News. It was the second such accident at the military drop site in as many weeks. Medics, who found the 25-year Navy man conscious and alert in a grassy field, stabilized him before loading him onto a medical-transport helicopter, Cmdr. Jeff Alderson of U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command said. The Coronado-based ordnance disposal technician was admitted to Scripps Mercy Hospital for treatment of a broken leg, several fractured ribs and back injuries, Alderson said. He was listed in stable condition early Wednesday. The commander said that Hickman's main chute only partially deployed and tangled with his reserve canopy several thousand feet above ground. The accident occurred 14 days after a similar mishap befell two other Leap Frogs as they practiced a tandem jump in the same general area. The men were connected by a leash in midair for a stunt called a "corkscrew" and were unable to unhook from each other in time to make safe landings, officials said. They both had to be hospitalized following the April 24 accident, one with head trauma and the other with broken ribs, Alderson said. They were discharged after several days and have been on light duty since.
-
A STUDENT who survived a 4,000ft fall after her parachute failed to open during a skydiving holiday in America was recovering from her injuries at her father's home in Gloucestershire last night. Lynda Harding, 20, a chemistry student at Hull University, spent a week in intensive care in California with broken ribs, a punctured lung, a broken nose, muscular back injuries and concussion. On a visit to the Lake Elsinore centre near Los Angeles with friends from university, she tried to use her reserve parachute when her main canopy apparently jammed.The reserve chute carried her for a short distance but it became caught in the main canopy, which had not disconnected, and she hurtled towards the ground. Her father, Philip, 41, a violin maker, who flew to America to accompany his daughter home, said: "She is very lucky. She jumped at 4,000 feet, her parachute failed to open and she hit the ground probably at about 70 to 80 mph." Mr Harding, a widower, of Newent, added: "The odds of this happening must be a million to one." Experts believe some drag caused by the flapping, tangled parachutes must have slowed her descent. Miss Harding, who is expected to make a full recovery, said she could not recall what happened after she left the plane. "The only thing I remember is waking up in hospital." She was unconscious for four days. "I am totally amazed I am still alive." She fell on to grassy scrubland but may have escaped serious injury because she fell sideways instead of on her feet or bottom. Her father said it had been his daughter's ninth jump. He said: "She was very keen on parachuting but she is in two minds now."
-
A SKYDIVER was killed and 11 others forced to jump for their lives in a tragedy more than 4000m above central Victoria yesterday. Simon Moline, 31, of Malvern, was sucked from the plane when his parachute opened while he was standing inside the rear door. His parachute snagged on the Cessna's tail, ripping it from the fuselage and sending the plane into a death spin over Nagambie. Brave pilot Barry Dawson fought to steady the stricken craft long enough for the 10 remaining skydivers on board to bail out before he escaped moments before impact. "I had no control. I just yelled at them to `Get out, get out'. I actually gave a `Mayday, mayday, mayday'," he said last night. One of the distressed survivors, instructor Kim Foster, said the pilot was screaming at the others to jump. "The plane started baulking all over the sky, and the pilot's yelling `Get out of the plane'," Ms Foster said. Another survivor, Paul Murphy, said jumpers used their instincts to escape. "I think self-preservation comes into it a lot," he said. A shaken Mr Murphy said Mr Dawson's actions saved lives. "I am not a pilot, but visibility and control of the plane would have been very limited due to the tail missing," he said. The single-engine Cessna Caravan crashed in a ball of flame at the Nagambie Skydiving Club air strip at Bailieston East about 1.15pm. Mr Moline, still alive, hit the ground near the plane's wreckage. Ambulance officers rushed to save him but he died of massive injuries soon after. "The weight of the person has actually pulled the back end off the plane," Sgt Rick Van De Parerd, of Benalla, said. Last night, Mr Moline's devastated family was trying to understand the tragedy. "I have all my other children here and we are grieving together," his father, John, said. The skydivers were practising for team competition at the time of the accident. Mr Moline was an experienced skydiver with about 2000 jumps in his log and was taking part in his eighth jump of the day. The plane had taken off about 1pm and was flying over the Goulburn Valley Highway. Shocked local Ron Sidebottom watched the fiery aftermath from the verandah of his Kettles Rd home just 300m away. "Out on the verandah I saw flames and smoke off in the paddocks. Then I heard woof, woof, woof and I looked up and saw the plane tail coming down through the sky," he said. "There were parachutists on either side, about three or four of them just floating down through the air along with the back half of the plane." Mr Dawson said he could scarcely believe he was alive. "I felt a sudden jolt from the rear of the aircraft. At the same time the aircraft started to spin out of control," he said. "I thought of dying right there, and then thought of my girlfriend and new baby daughter. "I couldn't bear the prospect of leaving them alone and never seeing them again. I just did whatever I had to to get out." Mr Dawson managed to rip open a jammed roller door which had shut tight on the nightmare ride down and jumped out at 180m. "We were about halfway down when I started getting out and the G-forces had shut the roller door. "I thought about riding it in, just for a split second but then I thought about my new baby daughter and my girlfriend. "I saw them alone if I died and decided not to. "If I was a second later getting out I would be dead. "My feet hit the ground and I just couldn't believe it." His emergency parachute opened just in time to get him clear of the fireball which erupted when the plane crashed. Mr Dawson said he was being thrown around inside the plane as he tried to reach the door. His helmet and one boot were ripped off as he was buffeted by debris and pieces of equipment being hurled around inside. He was the first of the survivors to reach the ground. "When I landed I was devastated to hear a parachutist had died," he said. Paul Murray, of the Australian Parachute Federation, praised Mr Dawson's efforts. "I think it's a very, very heroic task he's done to get out. It would have been a hard job to get out that door," Mr Murray said. "The sport does have its risks, but the people doing the sport do understand that these risks are there and they accept those risks." Two Australian Transport Safe ty Bureau investigators were on their way to the scene late last night. A coroner, police and the parachute federation were also investigating. One experienced skydiver said last night that in normal circumstances the parachutist would have about 55 seconds of free-fall before opening the chute. "It's very easy for the pins that hold the parachutes to be knocked while still in the plane," he said. "It would then start to inflate too soon, be sucked out, be wrapped around the tail and there would be little you could do about it." Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association president Bill Hamilton said the pilot would have known almost instantly the plane was in trouble when the parachutist crashed into the tail. "The weight of the body would upset the whole balance of the aircraft," Mr Hamilton said. The death is the first parachuting death in Australia this year. Two divers died last year, while one was killed in 1999. The parachute federation has more than 3000 registered jumpers.
-
A NOVICE skydiver who fell 3,200ft after his parachute failed to open properly is back at home and expected to make a full recovery. Craig Paton, 26, was being cared for by his family in Kilmarnock last night, less than three weeks after cheating death when he hit the ground at more than 40mph. Mr Paton took the place of a friend at the last minute to make his first skydive jump from Strathallan airfield, near Auchterarder in Perthshire, on 8 April. His descent took a quarter of the normal four minutes after his main parachute malfunctioned. Mr Paton's fall was cushioned by landing on a grass embankment, missing a concrete road yards away that would have meant certain death. He escaped without a single broken bone, and tried to walk to an ambulance after remaining conscious after hitting the ground. Last night, Mr Paton's girlfriend, Diane Giels, 21, said she was delighted that he was back home after being discharged from Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on Monday. She said: "He is getting there, and a full recovery is guaranteed. He is able to walk about, but has not talked about his experience." Mr Paton was initially treated in intensive care for internal bleeding before being transferred to another ward in the hospital during his two-week stay. His terrifying jump from a Cessna light aircraft had followed several hours of skydive training at the airfield. He fell past two others in the group who had jumped before him after a static line that should have opened his parachute automatically failed to work. Just a few hundred feet from the ground, he tried to open his back-up parachute, but it became entangled in the first parachute. Mr Paton runs a newsagent and milk delivery business with his father, John, 52, in Kilmarnock. However, It is not known when he will be able to return to work. His father said after the accident that it was a miracle he had survived. He said: "Quite honestly, he shouldn't really be here. He only went up because someone had dropped out and he said he would go and do it for the fun. It was the first time he had ever done a jump. "He landed on the banking of a road which sits higher than a grass area and then slid or rolled down the banking. If he had hit the road he would not be here. "After he landed, Craig was wanting to sit up and walk out of the field. He had to be restrained because he wanted to get up and walk over to the ambulance." Mr Paton was taken to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee for emergency treatment before being transferred to Edinburgh. His father added: "Craig does weights and runs a lot and the doctors said that is one of the factors which has saved him. "He didn't smoke so his lungs are in great condition and he was always jogging or riding his mountain bike." An investigation into the accident has been launched by the British Parachute Association. Kieran Brady, owner of Skydive Strathallan, who piloted the plane involved, said the parachute that had malfunctioned had been used on numerous previous occasions and that such problems were very rare.
-
Two U.S. Navy parachutists were injured Tuesday when a training jump went awry, sending them crashing to the ground in a field near the U.S.-Mexico border. The SEAL team members' hard landings occurred shortly before 12:30 p.m. near Otay Mesa and Alta roads, east of Brown Field airport, a Heartland Fire Department dispatcher said. The members of the Navy's elite Leap Frogs skydiving unit reportedly got tangled in each other's equipment while taking part in an exercise at the Trident Jump Center in Otay Mesa. The parachutists were performing what is known as a corkscrew maneuver. They began the jump at 12,000 feet. As they parachuted toward earth the team members were connected to one another. The problem came when they were unable to disconnect. After the landing, medics worked to stabilize the patients for about half-hour before loading them into ambulances. The parachutists were transported to Sharp Memorial Hospital, the dispatcher said. The two patients suffered abdomen bruises and back pains. They were both listed in stable condition and were expected to fully recover. About The Leap Frogs The U.S. Navy Parachute Team is a fifteen-man team comprised entirely of U.S. Navy SEALs -- Sea, Air, and Land commandos. Each member comes to the team for a three-year tour from one of the two Naval Special Warfare Groups located on the east and west coasts. On completion of the tour, members return to operational SEAL Teams.
-
An Ohio man BASE jumping from West Virginia's New River Gorge Bridge early Saturday morning missed his landing spot and got tangled in some trees before releasing himself from his harness and falling some 40 feet. According to a report today by the National Park Service, 33-year-old Shannon Murphy, of Wadsworth, launched into the darkness at 1:40 A.M. The sky was overcast and the gorge was full of fog, making it nearly impossible for him to see his landing zone. After friends John Maggio, 37, and Andrew Pulton, 20, placed a 911 call, rescuers including a team of rangers, county police, fire and EMS personnel got to Murphy, who was semi-conscious and suffering from a severe head injury and a fractured arm, 45 minutes later. He was stabilized and taken to a local hospital before being transferred to a trauma center in Charleston, West Virginia. The NPS report stated that alcohol may have been a contributing factor in the accident. Murphy will be charged with illegal aerial moves; Maggio has been charged with aiding and abetting. An investigation is underway. Four men caught BASE jumping off the Virginia's New River Gorge Bridge in December were fined $600 a piece after pleading guilty to aerial delivery in a magistrate's court. Tourists visiting the Fayette Station area of the New River Gorge National River snapped photos of two of the four jumpers in mid-air and dialed 911 as the group was still free falling towards the gorge floor. Rangers and several law enforcement agents were dispatched to the scene and, aided by vehicle-descriptions given by the tourists in a second 911 call , - apprehended the men. BASE jumping from the New River Gorge Bridge is illegal except for one day of the year, when the annual Bridge Day is held. The 2001 Bridge Day is scheduled for October 20.
-
DELAND, Fla. (CP-AP) - An experienced Canadian skydiver died after making a tricky high-speed turn too close to the ground, crashing into the pavement at a popular Florida skydiving centre. Stephane Drapeau, 30, from Beloeil, Que., was making a routine jump until he made the high-speed turn at an extremely low altitude as he approached the landing area at Skydive DeLand near the municipal airport. Drapeau had about 4,700 jumps before Friday's accident. DeLand Police Lieut. John Bradley said Drapeau slammed into a strip of pavement at a high speed causing massive injuries. ''He was wearing a helmet, but at times they can go as fast as 80 mph (130 km/h) when they make that turn,'' Bradley told the Canadian Press. ''His chute deployed properly ... His canopy probably collapsed or when he made the turn he was so close he just impaled the ground.'' Though the case is being treated as an accident, it has been turned over to the Federal Aviation Administration, Bradley added. If performed correctly, the manoeuvre brings skydivers in at a high rate of speed but allows for a horizontal glide about one metre off the ground, usually resulting in a soft landing, said Skydive DeLand General Manager Mike Johnston. ''He misjudged his landing,'' he said, also noting that Drapeau appeared to have made the manoeuvre too close to the ground. A pair of paramedics joined a skydiving doctor in treating Drapeau at the scene. He was flown by helicopter to Halifax Medical Center in nearby Daytona Beach, where he later died, police said. Just an hour-and-a-half before the fatal fall, a 42-year-old sky diver from Holland suffered a broken ankle after making a hard landing at Skydive DeLand, the Daytona Beach News Journal reported Saturday. Johnston said Drapeau was a frequent visitor to the popular DeLand skydiving spot, making the trip from Canada almost every winter. Although he didn't teach there, he was accredited to do so and worked for a parachute centre in Quebec, the Journal reported. Drapeau became the second person to die at Skydive DeLand in four months. Chantal Bonitto, a 31-year-old New Yorker, died Dec. 27 when her parachute failed. In April 1999, Beatrice Vanderpol, a 55-year-old French woman, also fell to her death because her parachute failed. A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa said Canadian officials are looking into the accident. ''We're in contact with our consulate in Miami and we are trying to find out more,'' Patrick Riel said. Drapeau's family has been notified and are being offered consular assistance, he said.
-
TAIPING: A police parachutist suffered a bad fall from a 1,500m jump after his parachute strings became entangled mid way before the landing. Safaruddin Mohd Ariffin, 36, who suffered head and neck injuries, was rushed to the Taiping Hospital in the 10.45am incident at the old airport in Tekah here yesterday. A member of Special Task Force formerly known as Vat 69--an elite police commando unit based in Ulu Kinta near Ipoh--Safaruddin was among 25 members in a parachuting test at the old airport over the last three days. Safaruddin was transferred to the Ipoh Hospital where his condition is reported to be stable. The father of three children from Teluk Intan had made 18 jumps in the past. It is learnt he had safely jumped out of a light aircraft at a height of about 1,500m but his parachute strings became entangled mid way before he landed. Seven others who jumped with him landed safely.
-
Included in this feature are three parts related to the death of Jan Davis at Lodi a week ago. The first part is a recent post by Jan Davis to rec.skydiving in response to the death of a fellow skydiver a while ago. Ironically the post deals with the risk risk of camera line snags, which seems to have been part of the tragic chain of events that led to her death. The second part is an article from a local newspaper regarding the Jan's accident and the third is an article about the ongoing FAA investigation. Ring sights and suspension linesFrom: Flyincamra ([email protected]) Subject: Ring sights and suspension lines Newsgroups: rec.skydiving Date: 2001-03-26 09:52:24 PST After reading of the tragic death of a fellow camera flyer, it brought to mind my discomfort at seeing the newer small camera helmets. My helmet is a headhunter with a big squared off front for a still mount. My ring sight is mounted close in and is virtually covered up by my still platform. The newer helmets, whether they be top or side mount, seem to have the ring sight by neccessity sticking way out from the helmet... long posts going every which way. This weekend I was on the plane with a new cameraflyer with just such a setup. He said as soon as he was sure where he wanted it set, he would have the posts on his ring sight cut down so no excess would stick out. Still.... the post from the helmet to the sight was very long..... It made me think of the way we tape the shoes of tandems that have hooks on them instead of eyelets for shoelaces, but yet we fly with huge hooks sticking out of our helmets..... I don't know the configuration on the helmet the deceased was wearing, but that was the first question that came to my mind. You know... this really doesn't seem like a difficult design problem to me. It would seem possible to form the ring sight directly to the camera helmet and still incorporate a way to make the sight adjustable... thereby doing away with the posts that are sticking out there like a target in a violent malfunction. Yesterday, after thousands of camera jumps, I had the new and unsettling experience of feeling my left riser hang up on the back portion of my top mount video camera. I don't know how or why as it was only momentary, but I felt it pulling up at the back of my helmet, pinning my head down so I couldn't look up to see what was happening. Just as I started think about reaching to unclip the helmet, the riser popped loose and let go. No biggy, nothing serious..... but it made me wonder if I could get out of that helmet fast enough if I needed to...... My sincerest condolences to the family and friends of Richard Lancaster. Jan Devil Skydiver killed after chute tanglesBy Andy Furillo Bee Staff Writer (Published April 1, 2001) A skydiver was killed outside Lodi on Saturday when her reserve parachute got tangled in a camera mounted on her helmet, officials said. Janice Irene Davis, 49, from Hollister, died in a vineyard just west of Highway 99 near Jahant Road. She had made nearly 3,000 jumps before the accident. The Hollister-area resident and other sky divers had jumped from a plane at about 9,000 feet, according to the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department. Bill Dause, the owner of the Parachute Center in Lodi, said Davis' main chute "failed to work" at the time of the 2:03 p.m. tragedy. He said she ejected the main chute and deployed the reserve. Davis had been using the camera to videotape two other divers. "Somewhere in the process of releasing the first and deploying the second, she inadvertently became a little unstable, causing the bridle of the reserve chute to become unactive," Dause said. Dause said a similar fatality occurred recently in the eastern United States and "the camera definitely was the culprit." He said the two deaths should prompt parachute enthusiasts to examine the practice of mounting cameras on their helmets. He described Davis as "a very outgoing, very caring person." Within hours of Davis' death, Dause was back up in the air with skydiving students. "We didn't slow down at all," Dause said. "She wouldn't want us to stop." FAA seeks clues from sky diver's video cameraThe Record (Published April 2, 2001) ACAMPO -- Authorities said Sunday it will take more time to determine what happened in the final moments of parachutist Janice Irene Davis' life, because the video camera she was carrying broke on impact. The Federal Aviation Administration this week will begin attempting to repair a videotape that was inside the shattered camera. It may show why the 49-year-old Hollister woman's main parachute failed to open during a Saturday afternoon dive at the Parachute Center in Acampo, San Joaquin County coroner's Deputy Tom Scott said. Meanwhile, coroner's officials Sunday said Davis died on impact from injuries she sustained in the fall. Davis landed in a vineyard about 300 yards south of Jahant Road, just west of Highway 99, shortly after 2 p.m. Saturday. She was an experienced parachutist hired to videotape two other jumpers Saturday, those who knew her said. Authorities believe Davis fell 13,000 feet to her death. Her main chute apparently failed to open correctly and her backup chute got caught on the video camera attached to her helmet, officials said. Scott said the FAA has taken over the investigation. "We know nobody pushed her out of the plane, we know nobody toyed with the chute," he said. "As far as our investigation is concerned, we don't go any farther than the toxicology reports." Investigators from the FAA's Oakland Flight Standards District Office could not be contacted Sunday.
-
A TRAINEE skydiver was seriously ill in hospital last night after his parachute failed to open during a jump from 3,200ft. Craig Paton, 26, hit the ground at 40mph at Auchterarder, Perth and Kinross. He was taken to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee suffering from internal bleeding and back and chest injuries and was later transferred to the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh where his condition was said to be critical but stable. Mr Paton, who comes from Kilmarnock and is a member of the Skydiver Strathallan Club, was one of four people booked on a flight leaving Strathallan airfield on Saturday evening. When his main parachute failed to open properly, Mr Paton tried to deploy his second parachute but it became entangled in the first. He managed to deploy it partially a few hundred feet before he hit the ground, which helped to lessen the impact. His father said it was a "miracle" that his son was still alive. John Paton, 52, a milkman from Kilmarnock, said: "The doctors who saw him have said that he should not be there. He has suffered massive internal bleeding after bursting the vessels to his kidneys and lungs. He has a broken back and may have sprained his ankle. "Of course, we are all praying to God for him, but I’m sure that he’ll pull through because he’s fit, active and above all, very stubborn. "Believe me after this frightening experience he won’t be doing anything as dangerous as this again." Craig’s mother Marion, sister, Dawn, and girlfriend were at his bedside. Kieran Brady, chairman of the skydiving club, described Mr Paton as a student parachutist who had paid £15 for his jump. He did not know if Mr Paton had completed a solo jump before but knew that he was not a fully qualified skydiver. "It probably only took him about a minute before he landed in the airfield," Mr Brady said. "Normally it would be four minutes. He was conscious and talking, but he said he was in real pain. He just said, ‘Whatever do you think happened?’ He wanted to tell me, but I didn’t think we should discuss it at that point." A spokesman for the British Parachute Association confirmed that the incident will be investigated. He said that parachute failures were rare.
