A student skydiver and his instructor plunged to the ground when their parachute malfunctioned during a tandem jump, killing the student and seriously injuring the teacher. It was the second fatal skydiving accident in two days at the same airport.
Kapowsin Air Sports owner Geoff Farrington said the company, which arranged both jumps at Kapowsin Air Strip, has led 13,000 jumps since it opened 19 years ago without a single injury.Sunday's accident happened when a corner of the parachute folded over between 100 and 200 feet above ground, said Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Curt Benson. The failure "caused the chute to spiral counterclockwise," Benson said, resulting in a hard landing.
David Maltbie, 23, of Edmonds was killed and instructor Russell Cameron, 33, was injured. Cameron was listed in serious condition today at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
On Saturday, on another tandem jump, the main parachute failed and the reserve chute became tangled. Robert T. Woodley, 45, a veteran Kapowsin Air Sports instructor, was killed and student jumper Alison Choe, of Glen Cove, N.Y., was injured.