> Dan,
[..]
> Hey Dan, good luck with your skydive tomorrow. Hopefully you'll survive
> to tell us about it.
[..]
Hi.
Maybe this comment was badly timed?
(I went tandem skydiving at Kapowsin in June. Coincedently, I am wearing
my skydiving T-shirt today since I didn't realize what had happened until
I came to work this morning. I had been in Canada all weekend enjoying
the awesome exchange rate.)
http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news?p=kapowsin&n=10
http://www.msnbc.com/local/KING/61677.asp
Rasheed
David Maltbie was killed Sunday when the divers parachute apparently
collapsed in the final 200 to 300 feet after hitting a surge of hot air or
thermal from the asphalt below, police said. That caused the pair to
spiral to the ground. It was Maltbies first jump.
Both men were airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle after
the 12:30 p.m. accident. Maltbie died about an hour later. The instructor
was listed in serious condition.
The accident comes on the heels of another accident at the Kapowsin
Airport, also involving a tandem jump with and instructor and a first-time
diver. On Saturday, instructor Robert T. Woodley, 45, of Graham died of
massive internal injures after his reserve chute failed to open.
The other diver, 27-year-old Allison Choe, who was on vacation from
New York state, was harnessed to him suffered serious injures in the fall.
Her condition was upgraded from critical to satisfactory condition at
Harborview on Sunday.
The two got the main parachute open, but because of unknown problems
had to release it immediately, Benson said. The two then tried to open the
reserve chute, but that became entangled and never fully opened.
The two crashed to the ground, with Woodley cushioning the Choes fall.
The accidents left the owners of Kapowsin Air Sports Skydiving
reeling.
This weekend was our first real problem, said Jessie Sarrington, who
added that the company had overseen thousands of jumps without so much as
a twisted ankle. It is an incredible tragedy and a loss to all of us.
Both incidents are under investigation by the Federal Aviation
Administration.