Parachute Malfunction Leads to Skydiver’s Death
One man died in a skydiving accident near the Lodi airport due to an apparent parachute malfunction.
Details about the Skydiving Accident
AOL News is reporting that just one day after a skydiver died near the Lodi airport in California, the owner of the Lodi Parachute Center is defending his business from bad press.
The owner, Bill Dause, is saying that the business had nothing to do with the accident other than piloting the plane that the victim jumped from. The business did not pack the parachute or maintain any of the other gear that was involved in the accident, according to Dause.
The victim, Ramiro Ramirez Sainz used his own parachute and was an experienced skydiver, Dause added.
Sheriff’s deputies from San Joaquin County said that Sainz’s parachute malfunctioned, which caused him to make a hard landing into a wall just north of the Lodi airport. Sainz did not survive the accident.
Dause also says he and his instructors are upset with the public’s perception that there have been frequent deaths at their organization, and admitted that he didn’t even know the exact number of people that have died at their drop zone.
FOX40 News reports that this was the 14th death at the Lodi drop zone since it was opened by Dause in the early 1980s.
Important Information about Skydiving
According to the United States Parachute Association:
- In 2014, there were a record 24 fatalities involving skydiving accidents in the United States.
- The rate of fatalities in the United States was roughly 0.0075 fatalities per 1,000 jumps in the US – the lowest rate in parachuting history.
- Over the last five years, the annual average number of skydiving deaths in 22.6 in the United States.
