2 Fatal Jumps At Sky-Dive School

The word came up again and again at Kapowsin Air Sports in Pierce County yesterday: fluke.

It was a fluke, the sky-diving school's owners said, that not one, but two fatal accidents happened at the Pierce County sky-diving school over the weekend. A fluke that both involved tandem jumps, where experienced instructors shared parachutes with first-time sky divers.

Dead are Robert Woodley, 45, of Graham, Pierce County, a sky-diving instructor, and David Maltbie, 23, of Edmonds, a sky-diving student.

Injured in yesterday's accident was instructor Russell Cameron, 33, of Roy, Pierce County, who is in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Injured in Saturday's accident was sky-diving student Alison Choe, 27, of New York. She was in satisfactory condition today with leg fractures at Harborview.

The failure of main and backup parachutes to open properly late Saturday afternoon led to Woodley's death and the injury to Choe.

In yesterday's accident, unexpected turbulence between 50 and 200 feet from the ground collapsed the main parachute carrying Maltbie and his instructor, Cameron.

It was "an act of God, fluke of flukes," said Geoffrey Farrington, who, with his wife, runs the center about 15 miles south of Puyallup.

Maltbie was pronounced dead at 1:25 p.m. yesterday. He had come to the center with a group of Boeing employees. They were told of Saturday's accident, and all four decided to go ahead with their jumps, said Jessie Farrington, Geoffrey Farrington's wife.

Cameron, a 33-year-old instructor, and Maltbie jumped together from 13,000 feet shortly after noon. Cameron successfully opened the main chute at 4,500 feet, a standard elevation from which to release the chute, said Curt Benson, with the Pierce County Sheriff's Office.

But when the pair hit a wind shear, the left part of their chute collapsed and sent the divers in a counter-clockwise spiral to the ground, Benson said.

Jamey Woodward, owner of Snohomish Parachute in Snohomish, said wind shear - turbulence close to the ground that is sometimes a problem for airplanes during landing - typically causes a chute to collapse, but that after a short free fall the chute re-inflates.

He said Maltbie and Cameron were likely too close to the ground for their parachute to recover.

"Sky diving is a calculated risk, which can and sometimes does result in bodily injury. We do everything possible to minimize the risk of jumping out of an airplane in flight," Woodward said.

Both Cameron and Maltbie were airlifted to Seattle's Harborview Medical Center. Maltbie died.

The Federal Aviation Administration was to begin its investigation of the accidents this morning.

The center has had five deaths in its 19 years of operation, including the two this weekend, Jessie Farrington said.

"But this one was particularly tragic (because) we had a student involved," she said. Cameron is expected to recover, she said.

Woodley died of massive internal injuries.

He "loved what he was doing," said Gary Young, a friend of Woodley's and a sky diver who was at the center when Woodley's accident occurred.

Both Woodley and Cameron had performed hundreds of tandem jumps, Geoffrey Farrington said.

The two are among about 30 independent contractors paid by Kapowsin Air Sports on a per-student basis, Farrington said. Most of the instructors work part time and have full-time jobs other places, he said.

The FAA has not yet created a formal process for certifying tandem-jumping instructors.

Cameron, Woodley and all other certified tandem instructors receive their certification from manufacturers of tandem-jumping equipment and the United States Parachute Association.

No jumps were done after yesterday's accident, and Jessie Farrington did not say whether the center would continue to operate.