Fentress skydiving incident ends in fatality

From staff reports

A 31-year-old licensed, experienced skydiver passed away while skydiving over Fentress on Friday, April 21, according to a press release from Skydive Spaceland of San Marcos.

The skydiver, who had been licensed to skydive solo for at least four years and had done several successful skydives previously at the location, was wearing their own parachute system for a self-supervised skydive. The investigation is ongoing, but early indications are that the primary parachute malfunctioned, and the backup parachute was used. However, the skydiver did not survive the landing despite immediate medical attention.

The equipment was appropriately sized, in good repair, and maintained properly by the standards of the Federal Aviation Administration. Weather, according to the release, was not a factor.

The name of the deceased is not being released as family members are being contacted at this time. 

The release added, “The skydiving community is small, and any loss is felt deeply throughout the sport. We offer our sincerest condolences to the family of the deceased and the many friends who shared the skies throughout the years.”

Social media surveys note than one in 220,000 solo skydive jumps end in fatalities, while just one in 500,000 result in a fatality with tandem jumps.