The FAA and other agencies are investigating after a 62-year old woman from Dillon died in a skydiving accident in Lodi, California last Sunday.
Nina Mason was an experienced skydiver, logging over 2500 jumps. She even completed three jumps before the accident. It’s been determined that her main parachute failed to open and by the time she activated her reserve chute, she was too low. A spokesman for the FAA says Mason used her own equipment and that they are checking to see if she packed the parachute correctly.
There are also questions surrounding the “Skydive Lodi-the Parachute Center” in Acampo, California. Mason’s death is the 16th death at the parachute center since the late 1990’s.
Last December, the U.S. Parachute Association, which regulates the sport, found that a number of tandem skydiving instructor students hadn’t been properly taught or certified. At the time, they suspended the rating of 12 candidates and ordered another 120 people to undergo certified refresher courses.
The FBI raided the business earlier this year as well. In 2016, an instructor and a customer died when their parachute failed to open.
