On New Year’s Day, a 54-year-old Martinsville woman died after she crashed to the ground in a field south of Franklin, Indiana, while skydiving with friends.  The Martinsville woman was flying at about 2,500 feet before jumping with two friends, a 53-year-old man from Seymour, and a 64-year-old man from New Palestine who often video records each jump and skydive he takes.   Although the New Palestine man recorded the skydive that day, it is not clear whether the man captured the woman’s accident on his camera and the pilot of the plane also observed that each skydiver had opened parachutes after jumping from the plane.  However, in spite of the woman’s parachute opening, skydiving experience, and immediate emergency treatment by a bystander upon striking the ground, the Martinsville woman was pronounced dead when rescue personnel transported her to Johnson Memorial Hospital.  Although each of the skydivers were experienced when jumping from the plane that day, the Seymour man also experienced difficulties when descending as he stated that his canopy was not fully inflating deploying his parachute.  The January 1, 2016 incident represents the second time within 2 years when an experience skydiver was killed due to parachute malfunction at Franklin Flying Field and a local skydiving company is being investigated to determine if any links between each incident.

When participating in potentially dangerous activities such as skydiving it is important to ensure that all equipment is in proper and safe working order to prevent serious injury or death.  Additionally, due to the increased risk of injury inherent with potentially dangerous activities, many businesses to shift liability to a patron or limit liability will require the use of liability waivers to be signed by participants. Therefore, it is important to understand the ways in which your ability to recover may be limited following an accident or injury and we encourage you to contact our experienced team of legal professionals at 888-578-2100 or a IndyInjured.com, for a free case evaluation and assessment.

 

Source

Indy Star

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2016/01/01/indiana-woman-injured-skydiving-accident-new-years-day/78180146/