Instructor identified as skydiving death investigation continues

The identity has been confirmed of the skydiving instructor killed over the weekend during a jump that also claimed the life of an 18-year-old Los Banos man.

South Korean native Yong Kwon, 25, was the instructor who died Saturday along with recent Pacheco High School graduate Tyler Turner, according to the San Joaquin County Coroner’s Office.

Sgt. Mike Reynolds said Tuesday the deaths were under investigation.

The accident at the Parachute Center in Acampo, near Lodi, is being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration, according to agency spokesman Ian Gregor.

Turner’s mother, Francine Salazar, said she was present when an instructor told Turner and others they didn’t need to finish watching a safety video shown beforehand.

Bill Dause, owner of the Parachute Center, told the Sun-Star that he was “pretty sure” the group watched the whole video because it plays on a continuous loop, but he couldn’t be sure.

However, Dause said whether they finished the video wouldn’t have changed the tragedy’s outcome.

An FAA inspector arrived in Acampo on Monday to examine a parachute and also attempted to review video that may have recorded Turner’s jump, Gregor said in an email to the Los Banos Enterprise.

Salazar said she paid for video of Turner’s jump, but the video was taken into evidence.

That inspector continued the investigation and obtained the video Tuesday, Gregor said.

According to data from the U.S. Parachuting Association, skydiving deaths have on average decreased since 2000. The rate of fatalities was 7.5 per 1 million jumps, in 2014.

Ed Scott, executive director of USPA, said the USPA doesn’t track fatalities by location because “it would simply show what is intuitive; the busiest skydiving locations also have the most accidents.”

Scott also said nearly all accidents are the result of acts or errors made by the individual skydivers.

The FAA has investigated a number of past accidents at the Parachute Center, Gregor said.

“The FAA’s role in these investigations is typically to determine whether the parachutes were properly packed by the appropriate person” in accordance with federal regulations, Gregor said.

The FAA has never taken enforcement action related to past skydiving accidents against the Parachute Center, Gregor said. However, the FAA has proposed two fines totaling $933,000 for failing to follow airworthiness directives for aircraft.

“We were unable to reach a settlement with the company and referred the cases to the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” Gregor said.

Federal prosecutors couldn’t confirm the status of the cases.

When asked about the status of the cases on Tuesday, Dause said the center has never been fined and he knows nothing about the case.

More than 150 people supported Turner’s family during a vigil held Sunday evening.

Salazar thanked the crowd and asked for individuals to tell their personal stories of Turner, who graduated in June with honors from Pacheco High.

Turner planned to study biomedical engineering at UC Merced in the fall, earning enough Advanced Placement credit to start as a sophomore, Salazar said.

This story was originally published August 9, 2016 at 5:11 PM with the headline "Instructor identified as skydiving death investigation continues."