Skydive Oregon fatality
Debra Spiro Allen and Mark W. Allen
Does anyone have any valid info on the fatality at Skydive Oregon this week?
It was my home DZ for some years and I'm naturally a bit shook up. Thanks
in advance.
-Mark
Wayne Downer
Steve was a friend of mine... we started jumping at the same time, and
got a couple jumps in together most years when he visited family in Oregon.
He was a great guy and a prudent skydiver. He'll be missed by many.
Blue Skies Steve!
The article below is all I've seen on the incident...
From The Oregonian, March 6, 1998:
Fall kills sky diver when chute fails to open
A 42-year old man, experienced in the sport, plummets to his death in a
farm field west of Molalla
By MARK LARABEE
of The Oregonian staff
MOLALLA - A 42-year old sky diver visiting Washington County died
Thursday when his parachute didn't open over a diving center west of
Molalla.
Stephen Stuart Wilkinson, an advanced sky diver with more than 200 jumps
to his credit, was jumping about 3:30 p.m. from a single-engine airplane
owned by Skydive Oregon.
Wilkinson, who was living in Japan, was visiting family members in
Beaverton.
Another sky diver with him, who had jumped second and whose parachute
opened, told Clackamas County sheriff's deputies that Wilkinson's chute
never deployed.
"He believes he saw the initial streamer come out of the parachute pack,
but the full chute failed to come out," said Deputy Damon Coates,
Clackamas County Sheriff's Department spokesman. "We're not sure if that
means he didn't have enough time for the chute to open or if the chute
malfunctioned."
Wilkinson landed north of the diving center in a muddy farm field owned
by Carol Selvaggi and her family. They were in the house when they heard
the impact.
"I looked outside, and there he was," she said. "He wasn't moving. I
started yelling for my husband and my daughter."
Dupty Medical Examiner Duane Begoni said Wilkinson's reserve chute
deployed but probably as he hit the ground.
The Federal Aviation Administration will investigate the accident and
inspect the chutes.
Operated by Joe Weber since 1988, Skydiver Oregon has been considered
the top gathering spot for experienced and serious sky divers, according
to a 1993 report in The Oregonian. The operation had not had a serious
accident in its 10-year history.
Weber said Wilkinson had been jumping at the center since 1993. He had a
Class C license, which is for sky divers who have completed at least 100
jumps and have passed an exam proving certain flying skills, Weber said.
The highest license is Class D, for masters of the sport.
The 45-acre airport and sky-diving center has not always been popular
with its neighbors, who in 1994 complained that off-site landings by
parachutists hurt farming operations in the area. A county hearings
officer ruled that Weber could continue operating the business.
Thursday's death is not the only sky-diving mishap in recent years in
Oregon. In May 1995, Ted Mayfield, a former operator of Sheridan Sky
Sports, was sentenced to five months in jail in connection with the
sky-diving deaths of two parachutists at that center. Mayfield pleaded
guilty to criminally negligent homicide in the deaths of Charles
Schaefer in 1993 and Lee Perry in 1994.
The two were among 13 people killed in parachuting accidents in that
company's 22 years of operation.
Robin Franzen of The Oregonian staff contributed to this report.
ki...@kaybee.org
Wayne Downer <way...@sequent.com> wrote:
: Another sky diver with him, who had jumped second and whose parachute
: opened, told Clackamas County sheriff's deputies that Wilkinson's chute
: never deployed.
You mean they open sometimes??
I love newspaper reporters :(
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Kirk Bauer -- Georgia Tech -- ki...@kaybee.org <== Finger for PGP
http://www.kaybee.org/~kirk ResNet RTA Computer Engineering
GT Sport Parachuting Club! http://cyberbuzz.gatech.edu/skydive
SkydivrBOC
Wow! Amazing!!! A guy jumps out of an airplane and his parachute actually
deploys.
Bill
3,100 jumps- one cutaway.