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A SKYDIVER was critically ill in hospital last night after falling more than 3,000 feet when his parachute failed to open properly. Craig Paton, 26, hit the ground at more than 40mph when his first ever skydive went tragically wrong. After his main parachute malfunctioned, he fell to the ground in just 60 seconds, when a normal descent from 3,200ft should take four minutes. Mr Paton landed on a lush grass embankment which cushioned his fall, missing a concrete road and certain death by only a few feet. Although he suffered not a single broken bone, he remained in a drug-induced coma in intensive care at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary last night with internal bleeding in his chest. Mr Paton's mother, Marion, and sister, Dawn, 21, were at his bedside last night where his condition was described as "serious but stable". Speaking from his Kilmarnock home, his father, John, said last night: "Quite honestly he shouldn't really be here." Mr Paton, who is single, joined work colleagues for the charity jump on Saturday when another man pulled out. After a day of training at Strathallan Airfield, near Auchterarder, he leapt from a Cessna light aircraft in a static line jump, a technique used for beginners. Two people had already jumped out of the aircraft without problems as it circled over the Perthshire airfield. But when he jumped out a few seconds later, the jumpmaster noticed immediately that there was a serious problem. The parachute malfunction meant Mr Paton began falling so fast he overtook his friends, who were enjoying a controlled descent. As he came within a few hundred feet of the ground, the stricken jumper tried to release the back-up parachute which would save his life. But it became entangled in the first parachute and the man was still travelling at 40 miles per hour when he ploughed into the ground. The plane, flown by Skydive Strathallan owner Kieran Brady, immediately headed back to the runway to summon help. Despite the massive impact, Mr Paton was conscious when rescuers reached him. Suffeirng severe chest injuries, he was rushed to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee by the specialist trauma team. He was later transferred to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. Mr Paton's father, John, 52, who runs a newsagent and dairy business with his only son, told The Scotsman: "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 added: "The police have told us that 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. "They are keeping him doped up to make sure he does not move about too much while they try and find out what is causing the bleeding in his chest. "Craig does weights and runs a lot and the doctors said that is one of the factors which has saved him." Tayside Police and the British Parachute Association confirmed yesterday they are investigating the cause of the accident. A police spokesman said: "We were called to Strathallan Airfield at 7.30pm because of an accident involving a parachutist. "Inquiries are still ongoing into the incident, but it sounds asif he was pretty lucky to survive the fall." Mr Brady, of Skydive Strathallan, said the parachute which malfunctioned had been used safely on numerous previous occasions. He added that such problems are "very rare".
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An inquest in Cardiff has heard how a Welsh Guardsman plummeted to his death when he lost control of his parachute over a Spanish holiday resort. A verdict of accidental death was recorded on 30-year-old Carl Henly who was on a New Year skydiving holiday on the Costa Brava when a formation jump went wrong. Mr Henly, an experienced parachutist with more than 150 jumps under his belt, was seen to break away from a formation of parachutists who jumped from a plane at 2,000 feet. Skydiving expert Kieron Brady told how the soldier lost control after flying away from the landing area in an "unsafe manoeuvre." Mr Brady, vice-chairman of the British Parachute Association, said that halfway through the descent Mr Henly flew away towards the town of Empuriabrava near the French border. He told the inquest: "The handling of the parachute as it descended closer to the ground was radical and erratic. It was a manoeuvre inconsistent with safe practice." Skydiving holidays The inquest heard that the parachute spiralled into the ground and Mr Henly died instantly from multiple injuries including a torn major artery. Mr Henly, of Rhiwbina, Cardiff, was based at army barracks in Aldershot at the time of the tragedy. The soldier - who had won a General Service Medal for service in Ulster - spent his holidays skydiving all over the world. After the hearing, his sister Amanda Culver said: "It would have been typical of him to break away and go sightseeing over the town. "Apparently it was common practice with divers at the flying school. Carl was a larger than life character - he loved parachuting, it was his life." During his army service, Mr Henly had visited Belize, Kenya, America and Canada on exercises. He had recently returned to the Welsh Guards following an attachment with the School of Infantry at Warminster in Wiltshire.
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DECATUR, Texas (AP) - Rob Franklin's skydiving dreams are on hold for now. Instead of making his maiden jump Saturday, Franklin, 32, ended up with a broken foot, concussion, gashes in his head and lip and a sore back when the skydiving school's plane went down in a field north of Fort Worth with 22 aboard. At least five others also were injured, one seriously. Franklin, a firefighter in the Dallas suburb of Lancaster, said he heard pilot Tom Bishop utter an expletive before he looked out the window and saw trees and grass fast approaching. "I was looking straight at the ground and that's all I really remember," Franklin said Sunday from his hospital bed in Fort Worth. "The next thing I remember is waking up laying on the ground. They told me I walked away from the plane, but I don't remember that." Franklin, William Rhodes, 28, and Glenn Hodgson, 31, were all in fair condition Sunday at Harris Methodist Fort Worth hospital, while Tim Trudeau, 45, was in serious condition, said Laura Van Hoosier, a hospital spokeswoman. "They all have orthopedic-type injuries," she said. Two victims whose names were not released were in good condition at John Peter Smith Hospital, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. A 34-year-old man was being treated for neck injuries and a 33-year-old man was being treated for leg injuries. Bishop, 58, said the takeoff was normal until the plane, a 1956 DeHavilland single-engine Otter, reached about 300 feet. He said a wing was caught by a "dust devil," a whirlwind that normally travels along the ground like a small tornado and becomes visible because of the dust it sucks into the air. "Eyewitness reports said they saw the dust devil," Bishop said Sunday. "We hit one about two weeks ago that shook us up pretty bad. It's very strange at this time of year to have those things." The plane skidded into a grove of trees and its left wing snapped off. Bishop said Skydive Texas, the school owned by him and his wife, Jean, planned to fly Sunday. Skydive Texas is based at Bishop Airport, a private airfield east of Decatur, about 40 miles north of Fort Worth. A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said Sunday an investigation into the cause of the crash was continuing. Franklin, who was preparing to jump while strapped to an instructor, said he had always wanted to skydive, but isn't sure if he'll try it again. "It's something I've always wanted to do and I got the opportunity, so I took it," Franklin said. "It wasn't a fun day."
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DECATUR, Texas (AP) - A single-engine plane carrying 21 skydivers and a pilot flew into turbulence and crashed shortly after takeoff from an airfield east of Decatur on Saturday, injuring five people but killing no one, the pilot and a Department of Public Safety official said. Pilot Tom Bishop, 58, said the takeoff was normal until the 1956 Dehavilland reached about 300 feet. He said a wing was caught by a "dust devil," a whirlwind that normally travels along the ground like a small tornado and becomes visible because of the dust it sucks into the air. "It just got under my left wing and rolled the plane to the right. I counter-acted with the rudder and aileron in the opposite direction, but there wasn't enough altitude to recover," said Bishop. The pilot said he had flown for 45 years - 30 for Delta Air Lines. Bishop said he planned to climb to 14,000 feet, the altitude from which the skydivers would jump. One of the skydivers was in the cockpit with him and was unconscious after impact, Bishop said. "We got everyone else out. I didn't know what was wrong with him, just that he wasn't breathing, and I began giving him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Then I noticed his seat belt seemed to be cutting off his air, and when I released that, he immediately took a breath," said Bishop, who suffered a broken rib. Bishop and his wife, Jean, own Skydive Texas which is based at Bishop Airport, a private airfield east of Decatur, about 40 miles north of Fort Worth. She was not aboard the plane. "It was traumatic. But I was expecting to see a lot worse," said Danny Timmons, a jumpmaster who was in the hangar at the private field from which the plane took off. Timmons said he heard the crash at about 12:30 p.m. and ran three-quarters of a mile through mud, losing both shoes, to find most of the skydivers already out of the plane. Timmons said if anyone had been flying but Bishop, who flew competition aerobatics for 10 years, "I believe there would be dead people. He brought it down in the safest manner he could." Timmons said most of those on the plane were experienced skydivers who jump each weekend. He said injuries were mostly broken legs and ribs. Texas DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange said the injured were taken to hospitals by helicopter. One person was listed in serious condition, three were stable and one was fair, she said. "My heart just fell," said Renee Thrasher, a Bishop family friend who drove to the crash site. "They're wonderful family friends. Jean has been there when I've needed anything. The whole family has." Marty Deiss, who lives less than a mile from the field, said she had seen many skydiving trips taking off and landing. "I would have no problem flying with them," she said.
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A Jackson County judge on Thursday approved a $27.5 million settlement for families of the pilot and five sky divers killed in a Grain Valley plane crash. Engine manufacturer Teledyne Continental Motors of Mobile, Ala., is to divide the money equally among the six families. The company admitted no fault in the settlement. Circuit Judge J.D. Williamson approved the settlement after hearing from members of four families. Lawyers said it will become final soon after members of the other two families testify. The checks are to be paid by May 11. Lawyers said the $27.5 million was among the nation's largest pretrial settlements in the crash of a small plane. Plaintiff attorney Gary C. Robb said a separate contractual agreement with the company, involving engine overhaul manuals, was more important to his clients than the money. Teledyne pledged to revise the manuals. "From the beginning our clients wanted to remedy the engine problem," Robb said. "They have succeeded." The company denies any engine problem. Robb, who represented the four families at the Thursday hearing, said the March 21, 1998, crash happened because badly designed oil transfer tubes failed and starved the engine of oil. Smoke and flames billowed from the Cessna engine as the pilot tried to land at Grain Valley Airport. The plane clipped a tree, cart-wheeled to the ground and burst into flames. All aboard died. Robb said his review of the company records found 14 other cases of engine failure caused by such oil tube failures. The records only go back to the mid-1980s, though the company made engines with the faulty tubes from 1945 to 1995, Robb said. The engines went into small planes made by many different companies, Robb said. "Who knows how many other engine failures and deaths resulted because of this," Robb said after the hearing. Robert W. Cotter, attorney for the company, disagreed with Robb. He said the oil tubes did not cause engine failures. He admitted no liability. Separate from the legal settlement, the four families received letters from Cotter Thursday. In them, the company pledged to change its printed and Web site overhaul manuals to tell mechanics and owners to inspect the oil transfer tubes. Cotter said he would not comment on letters that were separate from the settlement. Robb said the pledge is part of a legally binding contract. Members of the four families said they never would have agreed to the settlement without the letters. Judi Rudder of Oskaloosa, Kan., widow of sky diver Marion Rudder, said the families quickly agreed on two things - a required warning and an even split of any settlement. "Our whole mission on this was to keep people safe," she said. "We knew together we could make a bigger difference, and we wanted to be fair." Brad Buckley of Independence, the son of sky diver Kenney Buckley, said he lost a father and did not want others to lose loved ones. Other members of the Greater Kansas City Skydiving Club who died were Eric Rueff, John Schuman and Julie Douglass. The pilot, David Snyder, also died in the crash. The Snyder and Douglass families are to appear at later hearings to finalize the settlement. Belinda Schuman of Lawrence, widow of John Schuman, said the families want to make it clear that a plane crash - not a skydiving accident - killed their loved ones. Her husband loved skydiving and had made 2,300 jumps, she said. "We got married on the anniversary day of his first jump; he said he'd always remember that date." Another defendant, Jewell Aircraft Inc. of Holly Springs, Miss., settled the case previously for $1 million, which also was equally divided among the six families. The company, which admitted no wrongdoing, did an engine overhaul on the Cessna 10 years ago. Robb said he probably would drop the case against several other defendants that include Whuffo III, the owner of the plane; Freeflight Aviation Inc., an aircraft maintenance company; and White Industries, a company that sold the engine. His investigation, Robb said, also answered the key question of why the sky divers did not jump out of the plane. When the pilot first radioed at 3,000 feet that he heard an engine noise, he called off the jump and started to land, Robb said, but by the time the engine burst into flames it was too low for anyone to jump. Judi Rudder said the question of why no one jumped had troubled her. "They just didn't know it was going to be that bad," she said. "They thought they could get down safely."
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DELAND -- A skydiver plummeted to her death Wednesday evening near U.S. 92, and investigators worked well into the night trying to determine exactly what happened during the final moments of her fall. Chantal Bonitto, 31, of New York City, was pronounced dead at the scene, an EVAC spokesman said. Her body was discovered shortly after 5:30 p.m. in a wooded area along U.S. 92, directly behind the Flo Met office building at 810 Flight Line Blvd. Bonitto was vacationing in the area and was taking part in jumps offered by Skydive DeLand, according to the DeLand Police Department. She was no stranger to skydiving, having completed at least 100 jumps, said DeLand Police Lt. Paul Proctor. "It's still too early to tell what happened," Proctor said Wednesday night. "At 100 jumps, it would seem to be they know what they're doing to a certain degree." Proctor said people who witnessed Bonitto's fall offered conflicting stories as to whether the woman's parachute opened. "That's where some of the stories differ," he said. Some eyewitnesses reported they did not see a parachute open. Others, Proctor said, reported seeing Bonitto perform a "cut-away," detaching herself from the primary parachute in an effort to deploy a back-up canopy. Proctor said local investigators, along with the Federal Aviation Administration, will investigate the incident. He said more witnesses would be interviewed, including the pilot of the plane from which Bonitto jumped. Bonitto was married, and her husband was at the scene Wednesday night. His name was not immediately available. Proctor said he did not know if Bonitto's husband was a skydiver. Skydiving injuries and fatal accidents occur sporadically in DeLand, Proctor said, due in part to the sheer volume of participants. Skydive DeLand officials have previously said they average nearly 85,000 jumps per year. "There are just a huge number of skydivers in the area," Proctor said. Two skydivers were reported injured in April, one of them critically. In April 1999, a French skydiver died after her parachute malfunctioned and failed to open properly. The 55-year-old woman was an experienced skydiver with more than 500 jumps. 2000 News-Journal Corp.
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Nicole Cadiz wanted one more sky dive before the day's end, but she never expected it to be her last. The 26-year-old woman died Saturday evening after winds ripped off her harness during a 13,500-foot free fall at the Parachute Center in Acampo, just north of Lodi, according to the San Joaquin County Coroner's Office. Cadiz, an experienced parachutist with more than 1,000 jumps under her belt, had executed eight leaps earlier in the day. Then, on her ninth just before 7:40 p.m., high-velocity winds snatched her harness and chute off her back. Parachute Center owner Bill Dause said Cadiz then attempted, but failed, to get back into her harness, and she plummeted to the ground. Paramedics found her in a neighboring vineyard. Her new husband, Anthony, was one of seven others making the jump with Cadiz. Dause attributed the accident to an unclipped chest strap -- which he could not explain -- and Cadiz's upside-down position in midair. "Skydiving is a high-risk act, but with the equipment we have, it's got to be a combination of things that go wrong for that to happen," he said. "It wasn't just that the chest strap was undone, but also her position in the air." The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration investigates parachuting accidents, but representatives from the agencies could not be reached Sunday. Cadiz, an Acampo resident, worked as a manicurist in Lodi, though friends said her real passion was sky diving every weekend at the Parachute Center, where she first learned the sport seven years ago and became adept enough to work as a sky videographer. "She loved sky diving, she was always here," said a 21-year-old friend who was one of seven others with Cadiz on her fatal jump. "She was well-liked by everyone here. Her whole life was this drop zone." "It's just devastating, we're all devastated by this," added Jan Davis, who was editing a parachuting videotape on Sunday. The last parachuting death in the Sacramento region occurred at the Parachute Center last October when a 23-year-old Orangevale man committed suicide, said coroner's Deputy Al Ortiz. Nationwide, 32 of the 3.25 million parachute jumps made in 1997 resulted in fatalities, according to the U.S. Parachute Association, an Alexandria, Va.-based group that sets safety and training guidelines for the sport. Some at the Parachute Center were visibly shaken Sunday, but they still moved about the hangarlike building, packing their parachutes and watching others descend from the sky. Dause said parachutists understand their sport's inherent dangers and know that tragedies like Cadiz's can happen. Still, their love of the sport compels them to continue. "Everybody's sad," he said between flights. "But we've just got to bite our tongues and keep going." To see more of the Sacramento Bee, or to subscribe, go to http://www.sacbee.com © 2000 Sacramento Bee.
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Man dies, another injured after collision DAYTON TOWNSHIP -- The death of a Missoula, Mont., skydiver and the serious injury of another Sunday ended Skydive Chicago's attempt to break the world record for the number of skydivers in a free-fall formation. Paul L. Adams, 54, died during a mid-air collision with Kenneth Reed, 22, of Holts Summit, Mo., during an 10:30 a.m. jump, the 22nd jump record attempt. Reed was taken to Community Hospital of Ottawa, and was later airlifted to OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria, where he remains in critical condition this morning. Sunday was the last day for the skydivers to break the record -- they had been attempting since Aug. 13, and had scheduled 24 jumps. The accident is being investigated by the La Salle County Sheriff's Department and the La Salle County Coroner's Office. "Unfortunately, on this jump, people from two different waves somehow crossed," said Roger Nelson, Skydive Chicago program director and jump participant. "We've had no problem on the other jumps." The decision was made after the accident to stop the world record attempt. The skydivers began to open their parachutes at about 7,500 feet, according to Nelson. Chutes are opened in "waves," meaning skydivers from the outer, middle, and inner rings of the flower-shaped formation open at different times and altitudes to avoid collisions. Adams opened his parachute first, and immediately struck Reed, Nelson said. Reed's parachute opened, and their passengers floated to the ground. Both divers were equipped with devices to automatically open the parachutes at a preset altitude. Adams was reported missing shortly after the jump. Each skydiver is required to check in immediately with a captain after landing to maintain accountability in the record attempt. The collision was spotted by another diver, who reported it to a ground medic. Adams' body was located by a spotter plane carrying Nelson, who jumped from the plane and landed near Adams' body in a cornfield off the runway. Nelson began yelling during the descent that he found Adams, said Sheriff Thomas Templeton. Nelson separated from his parachute and ran toward Adams. Adams was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:24 p.m., said La Salle County Coroner Jody Bernard. An autopsy is scheduled for later today. Bernard did not know if Adams was killed in the collision, but said at a minimum he was knocked unconscious. Reed was located before Adams. He was found in a soybean field about 350 yards west of East 19th Road, Templeton said. The Federal Aviation Administration will investigate the accident, Nelson said, and examine the equipment used by the skydivers. Nelson said that the equipment Adams used is in perfect working condition, and that the accident wasn't anybody's fault. The death marks the seventh since Skydive Chicago moved to its present location in 1993. ................... Victim `had passion for skydiving' Paul Adams planned to take Amber Taylor and her roommate -- who rented the basement of his Missoula, Mont., home -- skydiving with him when he returned from the world-record attempt in Ottawa. "He talked about (skydiving) a lot. He was always trying to get us to go," Taylor said. When they agreed, "he was all excited to take us when he got back." She learned Sunday he had been killed in an accident that morning, and it looks like she and her roommate won't be making that jump for a while. "It's not because of the accident, really," Taylor said. "It's because he's not here. He was an amazing guy. He treated us awesome." Adams, 54, had given Taylor a $70 watch when she graduated from the University of Montana this spring, and he bought his tenants a new refrigerator for their apartment, she said. Before he left for Illinois, he was in the yard, excitedly showing the women a diagram of the formation planned for the world-record attempt. He told them he was a little nervous, Taylor said. Adams' ex-wife, Brenda Elvey of Missoula, said skydiving was a natural part of life while they were married, and the two have maintained a friendly relationship since their 1992 divorce. They have two adult children, Beth and Steven. Elvey estimated Adams had been skydiving for more than 30 years. When the couple would move to a new town, the first thing he would do is search out the nearest place to skydive, she said. "He really loved it. He had a sense of adventure. He had a passion for skydiving, and that probably grew the more he did it. "He had had a couple small injuries before, broken bones in his foot and different things like that, but that never seemed to bother him or set him back, or make him not want to do it. He really enjoyed a lot of things -- scuba diving, hunting -- but skydiving was his biggest passion. "I think he was very responsible; he wasn't foolhardy. I think he was very much safety first," she said. "I think he was a Christian man. He liked skydiving, traveling and he enjoyed his kids." Mick Fauske, who worked with Adams at Montana Rail Link, said Adams was "thrilled" to be asked to join the record attempt, and proud he was one of the oldest people participating. The two men hunted together, but Adams had never persuaded Fauske to jump. "I'm not much of a heights person, but he enjoyed it," Fauske said. " (He liked) the thrill of it, the idea of flying. I know it was his favorite sport." Adams had been a railroad engineer for more than 30 years -- for Burlington Northern and Union Pacific before Montana Rail Link formed in 1987 -- and both Elvey and Fauske praised his railroading abilities. Elvey said, "I know he could run an engine by how the seat felt. He was a good engineer." "He was a really good guy," Fauske said. "He took care of his family. He was a good railroader; he was a good skydiver." "He'll be missed," Taylor said. "We're all still in shock here." © The Daily Times http://www.ottawadailytimes.com/odtnews/news4.htm
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Harness Container was a Telesis 2, Main was a Navigator 280, Reserve a PD253R Training background: Deceased was trained by a highly experienced USPA AFF and military instructor. The training was a military exercise done strictly in accordance with USPA guidelines. Deceased had made 5 prior jumps, with good to excellent performance on all jumps, with the exception of a tendency to dip right side low on deployment. This was his second jump of the day. His training records reflected corrective training on body position at pull time. Description of incident: The AFF Level 6 jump went as planned, with excellent performance by the deceased. He waved and pulled at 4500' as planned. His body position at pull time was right side low due to knee dropped. Deployment appeared to progress normally to the jumpmaster. The jumpmaster did not see full canopy deployment. Deceased was next seen at approximately 2500' with a main/reserve entanglement. He was seen trying to clear the entanglement until impact. Post jump inspection found that the cutaway handle and reserve ripcords had been pulled. The kink in the reserve ripcord cable caused by RSL activation eliminated the possibility that the deceased had pulled the handles in the wrong order. The reserve bridle was found entangled with the right main line group. The main canopy was twisted in such a way that it appeared to have hung up on the left (RSL) side. Final inspection of the equipment revealed that the slider bumper on the right rear riser may have snagged the reserve static line, causing the dual deployment. Pulling the cutaway handle may have taken away this jumper's only chance of survival. To put the jump in the most likely order of events: Deceased deployed right side low. Right rear riser slider bumper snagged RSL during deployment. Main deployed normally. Reserve partially deployed. Deceased saw main and reserve out, with malfunctioning reserve. Deceased pulled cutaway handle and reserve ripcord. The resulting entanglement was not surviveable. This sequence of events is considered the most likely scenario based on the available information. It should be noted that in this, as is the case of all fatality reports, the person with the most information is unfortunately, unable to provide his or her input. Conclusions: It must be stressed that the pull priorities of : Pull Pull at the correct altitude Pull at the correct altitude with stability still apply. Stability at pull time great improves the probability of one good fully functional parachute. Sacrificing altitude for stability still is not a viable alternative. Even in an unstable body position at deployment time, the chances of a good parachute are very high. A review of different 2 canopies out scenarios, and practicing procedures in a suspended harness, or even a conversation with a very knowledgeable Instructor to review your current philosophy on different 2 canopies out scenarios may be enough to save your life.
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Panama City Beach Florida PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. Minnesota National Guardsman killed in skydiving mishap: A Minnesota Air National Guard technical sergeant was killed after landing improperly during a skydiving jump. Benjamin A. Freeman, 31, died Tuesday after jumping from an airplane 3,000 feet high near Eagle Air Sports, a small airport near Panama City Beach. Jennifer Collins, a spokeswoman for the Bay County Sheriff's Office, said human error appeared to have been the cause of the accident. "The parachute deployed normally and he was doing some simple maneuvers," she said. "There was nothing odd with the plane or the equipment. He was an experienced jumper." Freeman, a full-time guardsman, was stationed at nearby Tyndall Air Force Base, where he was part of an alert detachment of the Minnesota Guard's 148th Fighter Wing, said Maj. Don Arias, a spokesman for the 1st Air Force at Tyndall. Ground crew members such as Freeman are on permanent status at Tyndall while pilots rotate from Minnesota. Freeman had recently moved here from Tulsa, Okla., where he had been with the Oklahoma Air National Guard, Arias said. His wife and child were at the airport at the time of the accident. The Air Force Office of Special Investigation and Bay County Sheriff's deputies were still investigating. Chico Hot Springs Montana A Great Falls skydiver who did a trick turn to pick up speed as he was coming in for a landing at Chico Hot Springs Saturday died of multiple injuries after hitting the ground. Philip Moore, 39, and an experienced jumper, suffered multiple traumatic injuries when he landed hard in a field near the horse barn about 2:30 p.m., said Park County Coroner Al Jenkins. Moore was participating in an annual Chico jump meet. He died aboard a Life-Flight helicopter taking him to St. Vincent Hospital in Billings. "This is a terrible tragedy at a really positive and high-energy event, and everybody is just sick," said Colin Davis, Chico's general manager. The accident happened as Moore was coming in for a landing, said sky diver Chris Trujillo of Casper, Wyo., who witnessed Moore's jump. "Everything looked normal until the last few seconds," Trujillo said. Moore was coming down under a full canopy, and as he made his final approach, he did a hook turn. A hook turn allows a sky diver to get a little more speed and sets him up for a fast approach on landing. "He didn't recover from the hook turn fast enough," Trujillo said. "There may have been turbulence in the air." He described the winds as "light to moderate, well within the safety range" for sky diving. He speculated that circular winds may have complicated Moore's landing. "It's one of those fluke things that just happened," he said. "We've made thousands of skydives here." After Moore's hard landing, two doctors, who happened to be driving by the resort, gave Moore CPR and attempted to stabilize him until emergency medical technicians arrived from Emigrant and Livingston. The Life-Flight helicopter was called. At least 60 sky divers from throughout the nation were attending the annual event. Sky divers stopped jumping for a while after the accident, but resumed about 5 p.m., Davis said. Plans are to continue the meet Sunday. An investigation is under way by the coroner and Park County sheriff's deputies. Jenkins said he is awaiting the results of autopsy toxicology.
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An airplane crash that killed a pilot and five skydivers in Grain Valley in 1998 probably was caused by preflight errors that led to a loss of oil and to rod failures in the engine, according to investigators' final report. A report released over the weekend by the National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the pilot, David G. Snyder of Independence, inadequately prepared the single-engine plane before the flight. No safety board spokesman could be reached for comment on Sunday. Leaking oil apparently led to overheating and engine failure, the report said. The oil filler tube was missing and screws were either missing or loose. Connecting rods in two of the plane's six cylinders were found unattached to the crankshaft. Shortly into the flight, which originated at Independence Memorial Airport, Snyder told air traffic controllers he was canceling skydiving operations. Witnesses reported seeing white and black smoke and hearing a banging sound from the plane. The 1979 model Cessna 206 crashed and burned at the East Kansas City Airport in Grain Valley on March 21, 1998. Skydiving passengers who were killed were Marion C. Rudder, 47, of Oskaloosa, Kan.; John H. Schuman, 47, of Lawrence; Kenneth L. Buckley, 50, of Independence; Paul Eric Rueff, 32, of Kansas City, Kan.; and Julie L. Douglass, 24, of Kansas City. Snyder, 55, was the registered owner of the plane. He obtained his commercial pilot certificate in 1971 and was rated to fly by visual flight rules, which he was doing on the day of the crash. Snyder was flying for the Greater Kansas City Skydiving Club, which was based at the Independence airport. The club does not have a listed telephone number, and its officers could not be reached Sunday. Chris Hall, president of a separate operation in Lee's Summit called Skydive Kansas City Inc., said he frequently gets calls from people trying to locate the former Independence outfit. The safety board's finding of probable cause differs with a theory propounded by Kansas City lawyer Gary C. Robb, who represents the families of four of the dead skydivers in a lawsuit against the engine manufacturer, Teledyne Industries Inc. Robb contends there were metallurgical faults in the engine's connecting rods. Robb could not be reached Sunday, and the status of the lawsuit could not immediately be determined. Robert Cotter, a local lawyer representing Teledyne, has said the crash was a result of maintenance problems. Federal Aviation Administration records show that a certified mechanic had declared the aircraft and its engine airworthy four months before the crash. Work was done on the plane's cylinders and rings one month before the crash, and work was done on the oil pump one week before the crash. A second certified mechanic declared it airworthy at that time. Investigators looking at the wreckage found that the engine and the left side of the fuselage, including the wing and strut, were covered with oil film. A metal oil filler tube, the piece to which the oil cap connects, was missing and the screws that would have connected it were not found. In addition, five of six screws connecting the rocker-arm cover to cylinder number 6 were missing, and the sixth one was loose. Holes were found on the left crankcase near cylinders 2 and 6, the two in which the connecting rods were unattached. "The engine's internal components suffered damage typical of oil loss and heat distress," the safety board report states. The fatal flight took off with a full load of passengers shortly after 5:30 p.m. on a Saturday. Snyder made contact as "Skydive Six" with air traffic controllers and apparently left his radio microphone on, or it was stuck in the on position. About eight minutes after Snyder indicated he was going to climb to 11,000 feet above sea level, the controller reported hearing, "What the hell was that?" In his last transmission Snyder announced, without explanation, that he was canceling the jump. Radar indicates the highest altitude the plane achieved was 5,200 feet above sea level or roughly 4,400 feet above the ground. Witnesses eight miles northeast of the Grain Valley airport reported seeing white and black smoke trailing from the plane. A witness two miles north of the airport reported hearing a banging sound. At the airport witnesses saw flames from the engine licking the windshield. The plane clipped some trees just south of the airport. Its right wing struck the ground, and the craft cartwheeled and burned. Buckley, Rueff, Rudder and Schuman all were experienced skydivers. Douglass was to make her first jump. Ron Sharp, who was president of the Greater Kansas City Skydiving Club, said a few days after the crash that the Cessna 206 had been in the air several times already that day. At one point the engine became flooded and the plane was allowed to sit awhile. Later, after the battery was recharged, another pilot took it up for a test flight, Sharp said. Then Snyder took off with his passengers. "It sounded good," Sharp said at the time. "It sounded perfect."
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HANSEN -- His friends warned him not to jump. It was too dark. The wind wasn't right. The water was too high. But 29-year-old Roger Butler, an experienced BASE jumper who once parachuted from the Stratosphere hotel tower in Las Vegas, apparently died Sunday after jumping from the Hansen Bridge and disappearing in the water. "All of them tried to talk him out of it, but he had to do it," said Cpl. Daron Brown of the Twin Falls County Sheriff's Office. "The guy was experienced, but he made a bad choice." With the help of a brand-new underwater camera, search and rescue teams from Jerome and Twin Falls counties continued searching the frigid Snake River Monday for signs of Butler and his parachute, but the search was called off as sundown neared. Water flow at the Minidoka Dam was stopped late Monday to lower the water level and aid searchers when they continue this morning. The counties don't know the cost of the search. Butler, who had made more than 600 BASE jumps, spent Sunday with three friends parachuting from the Perrine Bridge, a popular spot for BASE jumpers because it is legal to jump there. BASE stands for building, antenna, span and earth. In October 1999, this same group had parachuted with a woman the day before she broke her back in a jumping accident at the Perrine Bridge, said Nancy Howell, spokeswoman for the Twin Falls County Sheriff's Office. The group was headed back to Ogden, Utah, Sunday before stopping at the Hansen Bridge, where jumping also is legal. With his friends videotaping, Butler jumped from the west side of the bridge and glided toward the water without a hitch, but he ran into trouble after hitting the river, Howell said. It wasn't immediately clear what happened, but shortly after landing in the water Butler and his chute disappeared below the surface. Neither has been seen since, she said. Butler was not wearing a life jacket, and he was jumping into a highly inaccessible area of the Snake River Canyon, Brown said. "BASE jumping is like whitewater rafting," he said. "It's a self-saving sport. You can't expect to jump off a bridge and have someone come and save you." Butler's taste for daring jumps was passed down from his father, a parachuter for 30 years, said Paul Butler, an uncle who drove to Twin Falls after the accident. Roger Butler watched his father nearly die in a 1998 parachuting accident that almost cost the older Butler his leg. But a year later father and son were parachuting together again during a Fourth of July celebration, Paul Butler said. "He just loved to do this," Paul Butler said of his nephew. "He loved to fly."
