Skydiving is a thrilling but dangerous – and sometimes deadly – activity. The Sacramento Bee has determined that since 1985, a staggering 28 people have died just at this one location outside Lodi, known today as the Parachute Center. Skydivers there have run into each other in midair.
They have had their parachutes malfunction. One dropped over nearby Highway 99 – and was slammed into by a semi-truck. Others have escaped mid-air mishaps, but not without serious injuries. A Bee investigation examined the situation, framed by trying to answer specific questions: How does a place where at least 28 people have died stay in business?
And what more can, or should, be done to prevent fatalities? The answers are complicated, but largely come down to this: Despite the inherent danger, skydiving is for the most part unregulated.
Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/news/investigations/article282562433.html#storylink=cpy
read more: https://www.sacbee.com/news/investigations/article282562433.html
Isn’t there some sort of oversight? If not a national licensing organisation, what about local business licensing organisations, insurance organisations, or law enforcement and judicial organisations? A quick Google says the average death rate is 0.28 deaths per 100,000 jumps. If this place has facilitated somewhere around 10,000,000 jumps, then this seems statistically normal. Otherwise, if they have far fewer jumps than that, I’m surprised insurance or local business licensing organisations aren’t dropping them or shutting them down, or local law enforcement isn’t investigating them for negligence or incompetence.
The authors of the article are just as incredulous as you are. No, there’s no oversight. The FAA (for example) does license and regulate some things, but very, very little that specifically targets skydiving.
As businesses go, the laws are astonishingly loose, especially considering how dangerous skydiving can be.