At least 25 jumper deaths at Skydive Lodi dating to 1985, Bee review of records finds
When Skydive Lodi Parachute Center earlier this week suffered what has been reported as its 22nd fatality since the early 1980s, owner Bill Dause claimed “none of them have been the same.”
“It’s not the same problem, like somebody drinking bad water all day long,” Dause told a group of reporters Monday morning, following a fatal fall Saturday at his Acampo business. “They’ve all been totally different.”
However, details shared by aviation and law enforcement officials along with Dause himself over the past few decades show several similarities among the deadly incidents that have been reported.
A Sacramento Bee review of archived news stories and Federal Aviation Administration accident summary records also found 22 to be an undercount: There have been at least 25 jumper deaths tied to the Lodi Parachute Center since 1985. Two of the deaths were ruled suicides.
About half of them have involved either parachutes tangling or failing to open. A few occurred after collisions between skydivers. And, when FAA investigations were opened, they often centered on whether parachutes were properly packed by riggers.
Skydive Lodi staff said Monday that 57-year-old Sabrina Call, who died Saturday afternoon after her primary and reserve parachutes apparently became tangled together, did not pack her parachute. That was done instead by a contracted parachute rigger, though Call, whom Dause said had more than 2,000 lifetime jumps to her credit, certainly would have been experienced enough to pack her own chutes.
The Bee found two prior incidents, both from the early 1990s, involving main and reserve parachutes tangling together. In 1993, a 15-year-old Roseville boy was killed after his main and reserve parachutes became entangled. In 1990, a 20-year-old Fair Oaks man died after his main parachute deployed immediately upon exiting the plane, and his reserve parachute upon deployment tangled with the main chute.
A few incidents did stand out in contrast to others. In 2000 and in 2010, women died after their harnesses and parachutes became detached during freefall. In 2001, a 49-year-old woman died after her main chute failed to deploy and her reserve tangled with a helmet-mounted camera, Dause said at the time.
The FAA has not taken action against Dause or his business, but in March a judge ordered him to pay $40 million to the family of Tyler Turner, an 18-year-old first-time jumper who died during an August 2016 tandem jump along with an instructor after their main and reserve chutes both failed to open. The family’s lawsuit alleged the instructor, Yong Kwon, was not properly certified.
A key point of defense by Dause over the years, which he reiterated Monday, has been that the high fatality count comes at least in part due to the high volume of jumps at Skydive Lodi compared to other drop zones.
But when asked by reporters Monday morning for numbers to back that up, Dause remarkably claimed that his business keeps no record of how many drops it conducts, whether it be on a daily, monthly or yearly basis.
The Bee tracked down information on 25 fatalities reported at Skydive Lodi Parachute Center. Details and victims’ names come from archived Sacramento Bee news stories unless otherwise noted.
▪ April 17, 2021: Sabrina Call, 57, died after crashing to earth when her primary and reserve parachutes became entangled, according to law enforcement and Dause.
▪ Sept. 26, 2019: Maria Robledo Vallejo, 28, died after colliding with a tractor-trailer on Highway 99, which is directly east of the airport.
▪ Oct. 14, 2018: Nina Lowry Mason, 62, died after her parachute failed to properly open. Dause said Mason’s husband was jumping with her.
▪ Sept. 14, 2017: Brett Hawton, 54, died after being hospitalized in critical condition after his parachute tangled during a solo jump.
▪ May 24, 2017: Matthew Ciancio, 42, died in a wingsuit jump. Dause claimed at the time that Ciancio “neglected to follow proper emergency procedure” and “waited too long to get rid of the bad parachute.”
▪ Aug. 6, 2016: Tyler Turner, 18, and instructor Yong Kwon, 25, died during a tandem jump when their main and emergency parachutes failed to open. Turner was a first-time jumper.
▪ April 29, 2014: Timy Dutton, a 27-year-old professional skier and veteran skydiver, died after he collided with another diver and his parachute did not deploy.
▪ April 5, 2012: William L. Calhoun, 72, died after a parachute failure.
▪ June 17, 2010: Lieve DeMeyer, 25, an “experienced parachutist” from Belgium, died while solo-jumping after becoming separated from her equipment during freefall, according to an FAA report. She fell to her death in an Acampo vineyard. A news story from the Lodi News-Sentinel at the time, quoting Dause, confirmed DeMeyer had jumped from the Lodi Parachute Center.
▪ Sept. 13, 2009: Two elite, pro skydivers died after three divers’ parachutes became entangled. Barbara Cuddy and Robert Bigley died after the tangling caused their primary chutes to deflate and they were unable to deploy their backup chutes. The third involved diver landed safely. Dause and the Parachute Center identified the victims.
▪ Aug. 21, 2004: Marvell Strawn, 31, died following a crash into another skydiver after having trouble opening his parachute, the Associated Press reported at the time. Strawn died at the scene, while the other skydiver was critically injured. Dause identified Strawn as the victim.
▪ June 24, 2001: A 27-year-old man died after his primary parachute became tangled and the reserve parachute either malfunctioned or was deployed too close to the ground. Dause was the unidentified man’s instructor, The Bee reported at the time.
▪ March 31, 2001: Janice Irene Davis, 49, died after her main parachute failed and her reserve tangled with a helmet-mounted camera, according to Dause.
▪ Aug. 19, 2000: Nicole Cadiz, 26, died after winds ripped off her harness and parachutes during freefall.
▪ Oct. 29, 1999: A 27-year-old man died when his parachute failed to open. San Joaquin County coroner’s officials ruled the man’s death a suicide, after investigators found his main parachute functional and his reserve chute not deployed; he was reportedly an experienced jumper.
▪ 1994: The Stockton Record reports there were three skydiving deaths at the Lodi Parachute Center in 1994.
According to FAA accident reports, an April 19, 1994, fatality involved a parachutist who apparently “made no attempt to deploy main or auxiliary chute.”
The Stockton Record identified this victim as 58-year-old Albert Rodriguez of San Jose, and said the incident “resulted in a letter of warning to the pilot for not checking the safety of the dead man’s reserve chute,” the publication wrote.
The second 1994 death involved George Post, a 53-year-old Lincoln man. Post’s brother, John Post, told the Stockton Record that Dause required his brother to give up his own parachute to use Dause’s gear. Dause told the Record that he didn’t allow Post to use his own parachute “because it was old and archaic,” the publication reported in 1995.
The Record reported the remaining 1994 death as “a suicide by a man who had walked away from a psychiatric treatment center three days earlier;” he was identified as a 28-year-old Sacramento man.
▪ April 7, 1993: Deven Whittaker, 15, was seriously injured after his main and reserve chutes became tangled. Whittaker died at a hospital later that night. Dause told the Stockton Record that Whittaker’s mother had signed a waiver.
▪ Nov. 24, 1990: According to an FAA accident report, a “jumper collided with (the) canopy of another person below,” 30 feet above the ground. The latter jumper’s canopy “swung him into (the) ground,” causing fatal injuries. The incident involved the same plane as the 1993 jump in which Whittaker died.
▪ Aug. 26, 1990: William Russi Jr., 20, died after his main parachute immediately opened upon leaving the plane. Russi apparently tried to open his reserve parachute, but it tangled with the main chute.
▪ March 11, 1989: A skydiver died after jumping from a Beech airplane registered to Dause. Witness jumpers “saw no action by the chutist to deploy either one of his parachutes,” according to an FAA accident report.
▪ Jan. 27, 1985: A parachutist “fell to death” near Lodi, and “witnesses did not see him attempt to open reserve chute” after the main parachute failed, according to an FAA accident report. The fatal jump involved the same plane as the March 1989 incident.
This story was originally published April 20, 2021 at 11:53 AM with the headline "At least 25 jumper deaths at Skydive Lodi dating to 1985, Bee review of records finds."
