Skydiver killed, another injured near Perris airport

One man was killed and another critically injured Friday afternoon in a skydiving accident in Riverside County, authorities said.

A preliminary investigation suggests that the two men collided in midair about 2:45 p.m. near the Perris Valley Airport, according to a news release by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.

The men’s parachutes apparently became entangled during the collision, deputies said.

It was the second fatal skydiving accident at the airport in less than a month. On March 31, two skydivers collided in midair and plummeted about 200 feet to their deaths, fire officials said.  

Neither the name of the dead skydiver nor the injured man, who remained in critical condition Friday night, has been released.

The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the accident.

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One of two skydivers killed in midair collision had made 17,000 jumps

-- Scott Glover

Comments

[Duane]

For the life of me, I cannot understand someone jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.

[Flying Wong]

Once wireless parachutes are in full production, wired parachutes should be outlawed! Never again should two sky divers entangle their parachutes, but funding for wireless parachutes should not be cut from the budget, or more skydivers will innocently lose their lives in tragedy. Stop these senseless deaths and restore the funding for wireless parachutes. If it saves just one life; wouldn't it be worth it?

[RodneyM]

Extreme sports may be thrilling, especially for adrenaline junkies but one mistake, one accident, can easily result to serious injury or death. However, this is the second fatal sky diving accident in less than a month -- and the skydiver who was killed had as many as 17,000 jumps, what could have caused the accident? Was there negligence on the part of the airport?

[Fly Up]

Another sad day for the SD community. They'll be missed.

[JimBob]

Har, har, Diane.

I feel bad for the Perris operation, they've been so proud -- and rightly so -- of their perfect safety record for so many years...

[Higgs Boson]

There is no such thing as a "perfectly good airplane". The sport of skydiving is statistically safer than driving on freeways in the LA basin.