“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.
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.
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...
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?
RIP.
People who jump out of planes, ski back country alpine, scale cliff faces, deep sea dive to depth for large fish, die at their own hands. And, hopefully do not take any rescuers or Good Samaritans with them.