Posted on 09/26/2019 10:28:33 PM PDT by BenLurkin
28-year-old woman was parachuting with a group of seven people through the Lodi Parachute Center, which is just south of the crash site.
The woman's identity has not been released, but CHP says she was from Colombia.
Everyone else in her group landed safely.
...Just last October, 62-year-old Nena Lowry Mason from Dillon, Colorado, fell to her death after her main parachute malfunctioned. Her death marked the 19th fatality since the center opened in the early 1980s.
After trouble in 2016, 20 center instructors were suspended and it was determined 120 more needed more training as the U.S. Parachute Association investigated.
Federal agents raided the center in 2018 and seized numerous records, including waivers and cash receipts, as well as extensive video footage, the Lodi News-Sentinel reports.
(Excerpt) Read more at ktla.com ...
“Around 2 p.m., witnesses told the California Highway Patrol they saw a parachute fall from the sky toward Highway 99 in Acampo, between Sacramento and Stockton.
As she neared the roadway, the woman collided with the truck’s trailer before investigators say she crashed into the shoulder of the highway. She was pronounced dead at the scene by first responders”
It appears from their record that the mere choice to use this outfit qualifies one for a Darwin.
If you get your fun jumping out of a perfectly good plane, go ahead.
If you die, I won’t lose sleep.
Before I moved to Saint George, Utah, three weeks ago, I made an almost daily run from Sacramento to Stockton and back commute on Highway 99. I can’t count the times I saw parachutists stooping in to their landing area crossing dangerously low over 99 and the rushing traffic which is just a few hundred feet to the east of the airport. . . and often you see light aircraft and ultralights doing the same thing as the runway points directly at 99. A few times the private pilots barely clear the tops of the big-rig exhausts. This is just poor piloting.
Some of the jumpers who came in over the freeway were tandem, a pro-jumper with a thrill passenger or trainee, strapped to their front.
This death is the first I’ve heard of which actually involved the freeway, though, but given what I’ve seen, I’ve expected one sooner rather than later. I think it’s likely an unnecessary approach chosen by skydivers looking for an additional rush of adrenaline. They don’t need to come in that direction. . . and in fact by doing so may compromise the airport plane takeoff and landing as it’s an uncontrolled air field as I understand.
Class G or “go for it” airfield!
Jump out of a perfectly good airplane and the results may be random.
Skydivers accept the risks. The thrill is important. Dying while getting the thrill is not.
Same parachute center was featured on “Airplane Repo”....Season 1, Episode 2 I think:
https://go.discovery.com/tv-shows/airplane-repo
With the landing site so near a highway, well...
That's where I did my one and only parachute jump as a tandem. Didn't realize until I was at the door of the plane and about to jump that the guy hadn't told me what to do if he didn't pull the rip cord.
I have a lot of senior softball friends heading out there in two weeks for the Huntsman senior games.....I know one guy who has gone out there for the softball tournaments for the past 20+ years.
There have been a couple of Tandem jump cases where the Instructor had a heart attack or some physical issue and didn’t pull the D ring, both did CFIT.
The article indicated that it is the 19th after fatality at that facility since the early 1980’s. Doing a little research (very little) it appears that the fatality rate for skydiving is 1 per 100,000 jumps https://adventure.howstuffworks.com/skydiving8.htm
So is this center above average or is it just the risk that you accept skydiving?
It’s a great town to live in. Everyone here is nice to us. In California, everyone is walking on eggshells, afraid to say anything for fear of offending someone by micro-aggressing with what they say. Here they don’t worry about that, add a far lower cost of living and a minuscule crime rate equals paradise.
Let’s make some reasonable assumptions. Having observed the number of jumps they process through their jump center, I’d say they they do 10 flights per day with a dozen jumpers per flight. On weekends they get in more, often four flights in an hour. Some with tandem jumpers. Let’s assume that they’ve been able to get in approximately 120 jumps per day, times seven five week days plus 200 jumps for Saturday and Sunday. That comes to 600 during the week plus 400 weekend jumps, for 1000 a week.
There are 52 weeks a year, but not all weeks are jumpable nor all all days. So lets assume that 40 weeks a year are suitable jumping weeks combining days/weeks are good for jumping considering weather, holidays, etc. Then we know the center opened in the early 1980s, so lets assume 37 years of operation. So, our formula to learn the number of jumps is ~1000 X ~40 weeks X ~37 years = ~1,480,000 jumps.
We divide that by the known 19 fatalities in the ~37 years to get the number of deaths per year. ~1,480,000 / 19 = approximately 1 fatality per ~78,000 parachute jumps.
So, it looks as if there is about a ~22% higher chance of dying in a jump at the Lodi Jump Center than in the National Average of 1 in 100,000.
Of course, that is assuming that the numbers used to calculate the national average are correct. I am not sure there is any registry of exactly how many jumps are made each year. Also, does that include civilian and military and are there statistical difference between the populations.
RIP.
All the first timers I know who were out there last year are going back again this year. That's how great the softball tournament and the hospitality has been to them........I was asked to join a team going out this year but I just can't afford it.........
I hear the weather is great this time of the year.......
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.