A skydiver died after her parachute failed to open during her jump at the Skydive Lodi Parachute Center in Northern California on Sunday, according to KTLA sister station KTXL in Sacramento.
Federal Aviation Administration investigators will be looking into the parachute used since its malfunction caused the skydiver’s death, according to the agency. The FAA said she was using her own equipment.
Usually, FAA probes into such situations are limited to if the chute was packed properly and by the appropriate person. Fellow skydivers said she was experienced in the extreme sport.
Meanwhile, the skydiving center itself has a decades-long history of deaths and was investigated by federal agents earlier this year, according to KTXL.
Nineteen people have died there since the facility opened in the early 1980s, with six of them between 2016 and 2018.
After trouble in 2016, 20 center instructors were suspended and it was determined 120 more needed more training as the U.S. Parachute Association investigated.
After the raid earlier this year, the FBI has still not released any further details about that operation.
Brent Huntington, a skydiver from Alaska, said he cared for the woman who died as part of the special camaraderie all skydivers share.
“We all care about it. We do it for a reason,” Huntington told KTXL.
Huntington only met the latest fallen skydiver during this weekend’s trip. He told KTXL that the woman who died had been involved in the extreme sport for decades.
He also said he goes to the Lodi Parachute Center at least twice a year, saying it’s his favorite place to jump in the world — despite its deadly history.
