http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-0207210281jul21.story?null
Deaths cloud Illinois firm's skydive record
Critics question safety, location
By Maurice Possley and Jon Hilkevitch, Tribune staff reporters. Tribune staff reporters Ray Gibson and H. Gregory Meyer contributed to this report
July 21, 2002
OTTAWA, Ill. -- As the sport's top official looked on, three skydivers under high-performance parachutes lined up their approach to a tiny swimming pond late last Sunday afternoon at Skydive Chicago.
They were "pond swooping," a crowd-pleasing stunt where a skydiver skims across the water, much like a water-skier, and then walks ashore. There was little room for error, with a dock jutting into the water on one side, a swimming platform in the center and trees all around.
The first two made it, but Ronald Passmore Jr., 33, a skydiver with more than 1,300 jumps, was in trouble. He made a dangerous low turn, slammed the water chest first and was killed.
Passmore's death, the sixth at Skydive Chicago in the past 12 months, is a graphic example of not only the inherent dangers of an increasingly popular and loosely regulated sport, but also the difficulty that skydiving operators face in policing the participants.
Some critics say Skydive Chicago's fatality rate in 12 months--eight times higher than the national average--suggests an atmosphere that fails to adequately emphasize safety. Since 1993, 13 skydiving deaths have occurred at Skydive Chicago, which is run by Roger Nelson.
At the same time, skydivers, pilots and air traffic controllers report that skydiving operations in the busy flight route into O'Hare International and Midway Airports have caused near collisions between commercial jets and the jump planes disgorging divers into dense cloudbanks.
"Skydiving in Chicago is an accident waiting to happen," one pilot declared in a report to federal authorities of a near miss in 2000.
After Passmore's death, Nelson said he banned "pond swooping" at the busy drop zone here. And Chris Needels, the executive director of United States Parachute Association who witnessed the accident, said it should never have been allowed because of the pond's size and design.
According to the association, the sport's governing body, more than 350,000 people make about 3.3 million jumps a year with an annual average of 30 fatalities per year over the past decade. The rate of student fatalities is even lower, the association reports.
In the five other fatal accidents since July 9, 2001, at Skydive Chicago, two deaths occurred when divers' parachutes became entangled 100 feet above the ground. Another diver was killed during free fall--the period before a parachute is opened--in a 120 m.p.h. mid-air collision with another skydiver, who survived. A woman died when her main and reserve parachutes became entangled after being deployed at a low altitude. Another skydiver was killed when his parachute malfunctioned. An autopsy revealed the presence of cocaine, marijuana and Ecstasy in his body.
In an interview last week, Nelson, 46, a world champion skydiver with more than 9,000 jumps, called the facility "the premier center in the world," saying his facilities, equipment, instructors and safety precautions "are second to none."
The drop zone, located about 80 miles southwest of Chicago, will be the site of the U.S. national championships in September.
"It is very sad and disturbing to me that people have died here," Nelson said. "One is too many. I do everything possible to personally keep that situation from occurring."
"Unfortunately, we attract people from around the world because this is the destination and we have people with different training," Nelson said. "And quite frankly, I have to say the training in the sport is not perfect. It is not consistent.
"These people dying are experienced people pushing the envelope. What happened to Ron, I had no knowledge of. Pond-swooping is ... very difficult and it is for trained professionals."
Commercial pilots' fears
Not only skydivers are at risk. Commercial pilots have reported near misses with skydivers in freefall and jump planes over the four drop zones that ring Chicago. Skydiving groups also are based in Kankakee, Hinckley and Morris.
At least three times since 1993, pilots have reported near misses in the southwest approach paths to Midway and O'Hare, records show. In August 1993, a pilot reported being forced into a quick descent to avoid a plane "involved in parachute jumping at Ottawa Airport," according to a copy of the report obtained by the Tribune. At the time, Nelson's operations were based at that airport, but it is unclear if the incident involved his plane.
Two years ago, a commercial jet pilot who took evasive action to avoid a collision stated in his report: "Why do parachute jumpers have to ply their trade [in a path] to the busiest airport in the world?"
Last September, a Boeing 737 pilot reported a near miss, saying, "It was very close ... I estimate less than 100 feet vertical and 500 feet horizontal"--just seconds away from a collision, aviation officials say.
"Jumpers from Skydive Chicago are in the absolute worst place to be," said Bryan Zilonis, a veteran air-traffic controller at the FAA's Chicago Center facility in Aurora. He said the club's jump aircraft climb directly into the middle of the busy arrival corridor. In the club's jump zone, commercial aircraft approaching O'Hare are descending to 11,000 feet and planes bound for Midway are in the 6,000-foot range, Zilonis said. He said the jumpers bail out of their aircraft at altitudes of 10,000 to 14,000 feet.
Zilonis said the increasing number of skydivers adds to the workload, sometimes fraying controllers' nerves. But under FAA rules, skydivers "have just as much right to the airspace as anyone else."
"All we can do is call out [the presence of other] traffic to them and hope that the planes and jumpers are not really as close to each other as they appear on our radar scopes."
In 1999 the National Transportation Safety Board recommended tracking parachute accidents to monitor drop zone safety, but the Federal Aviation Administration withdrew the proposal after U.S. Parachute Association lobbying, according to federal records and interviews.
At the time, the FAA said it lacked the resources to track such incidents and noted that the requirement would impose "a significant paperwork burden" on skydiving operators.
Under the parachute association's rules, complaints about drop-zone safety violations are heard by the association's regional directors, who may order an inquiry and recommend censure or expulsion from the association. Gary Peek, regional director for Illinois for the past three years, said he has never ordered an inquiry. He said he dismissed the lone complaint he received about Skydive Chicago because it was not credible.
Nelson said that about a fourth of the 75,000 jumps annually at Skydive Chicago are tandem jumps made by students with an instructor physically buckled to their backs.
First-time jumpers pay $159 to $189. After a second jump, a skydiver can purchase a 17-jump package for $1,800. After 20 jumps, a skydiving license is issued. From then on, jumps can cost $20 each or less for skydivers with their own equipment.
Few lawsuits, no winners
Only a handful of suits have been filed and none has been successful. Nelson said jumpers sign a four-page liability release. First-time divers watch a video that repeatedly states that skydiving can be fatal.
Terry Murray, a high-ranking employee at Skydive Chicago until 1998, contends that Nelson allows skydivers to jump through clouds and in bad weather--a dangerous action forbidden by the FAA.
"He's pushing for the almighty dollar," said Murray, who now drives a truck. "He puts students up in unsafe conditions--jumping through solid and low layers of clouds, in high winds. You can't see what's below. There were times when jumpers went out at 13,000 feet and didn't see the ground until at 900 feet."
Murray recalled a time several years ago when he and Nelson jumped in tandem with two students into heavy clouds and because of winds and poor visibility wound up more than 12 miles from the drop zone. "We hitchhiked back to the airport," Murray said.
He said Nelson's philosophy was, "Let them jump--we need the loads."
Nelson disputes Murray's allegations, calling them the "lies of a deranged man."
"We do not jump in clouds," he said. At the same time, he said student income is crucial to his business. "I have loans and mortgages up to the hilt and I need every day of income to make this thing go," he said.
Karen Kirby-Hall, a nurse from Oak Park, learned to skydive at Nelson's facility in 1998 and has jumped more than 150 times. "I jumped through clouds as a student," she said.
She and other skydivers characterize Nelson as a charismatic, aggressive skydiver who pushes his students too quickly to advance to more difficult maneuvers and high-performance equipment.
Others disagree.
Donovan Bartlett, an instructor at Skydive Chicago whose fiance was one of the skydivers who died last year, said, "I have seen Roger ... pull people aside and tell them they are doing something dangerous. Safety is the foremost concern here."
Nelson also disputes allegations of unsafe conditions or the existence of a "cowboy" mentality at the facility, saying he fires instructors and bans or grounds jumpers who engage in dangerous activities.
"But I cannot control human error," he said. "Once they leave that airplane, there is nothing that I can do to stop them or save them."
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