Posted on 11/12/2009 8:43:39 AM PST by Chet 99
MURRIETA -- Two people watched in horror as a 40-year-old skydiver fell to his death during a jump near Murrieta, according to authorities.
The man, from Boston, Massachusetts, landed on the driveway of a home in the 38000 block of Calle de Lobo near Avenida Arboles in the rural La Cresta area shortly around 4:50 p.m. Wednesday and was pronounced dead a short time later, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.
Two witnesses were standing less than 100 feet away at the time of the fall, said Sgt. John Kaiser, of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.
The man's parachute was open, however, it was not known if it had deployed properly, Kaiser said.
The man's name has not yet been released.
Officials say the man began his skydiving attempt at Skydive Elsinore, which is based at Skylark Airport in Lake Elsinore.
According to Los Angeles-based photographer Devon Steigerwald, a world-record wingsuit formation jump involving 68 skydivers took place at Skydive Elsinore earlier in the day.
Wingsuits -- also known as "birdman suits" or "squirrel suits" -- allow skydivers to glide during freefall.
John Hamilton, the owner of Skydive Elsinore, said the man was wearing a wingsuit and was doing a "fun jump" with four others at the end of the day.
It appeared the man hit the tail of the aircraft when jumping out, Hamilton said.
Others who jumped before and after him had no problems, according to Hamilton.
An investigation is underway.
Yes... I’m also glad you weren’t there.
Sorry for your loss. What a sad thing for a vibrant individual to lose their life like that.
Thanks for the mention.
I made four or five jumps, too. My skydiving career ended when, as I was getting ready to go one Sunday morning, CNN had a beautiful video of three professional skydivers falling to their deaths while performing a stunt. I decided I would find something else to do that day.
I don’t think the writer wanted to be accused of jumping to a conclusion.
Or common sense.
USA Southern California Riverside County.
Area used to be nice ranches, mostly horses. All breeds, but lots of thorobreds.
Got ‘developed’ starting around 1986, and beautiful land got totally carpeted with sub-divisions. By 1989, it was an onslaught.
Rode a couple of days up on Santa Rosa Mesa near there and it was beautiful. Cannot even find the trails I rode anymore.
All of this was once very large Spanish Land Grants, from the very earliest explorers. A couple of the California Missions are near there.
Blue Skies....Black Death
Prayers for the family.
How perceptive of you! In my day, we would have put our money on a "Mae West".
Airborne training at Fort Benning takes 3 weeks. On Friday of the second week, they illustrate the various things that can go wrong with a parachute. It's not pretty, but it's good prep for Jump Week.
I'm what's known as a "cherry jumper". I did my five jumps to earn my wings at Jump School at Fort Benning, and haven't jumped since.
No doubt, it was great training. I don't remember much from those five jumps, as we jumped at 1200 feet, and I was constantly looking around to make sure that no one was on top of my chute.
My most vivid memories are walking off the drop zone under my own power, and pinning on the wings.
RIP.
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