Federal investigator to recreate skydive scene
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By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Federal Aviation Administration, searching for a cause of the parachuting accident that killed an instructor and his 18-year-old student, will recreate the scene tomorrow where the two landed in the yard of a Mokule'ia estate Sunday.
The FAA investigator working on the case will lay the chutes out as they were found and look at all the gear recovered from the scene when the bodies were removed, said FAA Pacific representative Tweet Coleman.
Investigator Curtis Whaley has a national reputation as a parachute expert and has many jumps of his own under his belt, Coleman said.
The owners of the company involved, Drop Zone, said yesterday they could not comment on the accident during the investigation, but extended sympathies to the victims' families.
Ken "Tugie" Anderson and his wife, Cynthia, owner-operators of the 5-year-old company, said their 'ohana was "in a state of shock and deep sadness over the tragic loss of a beautiful young woman and mother, Margaret Thomas, and one of our own, Greg Hunter. It is impossible to express in words the depth of our grief due to this tragedy," according to a statement.
The Andersons said they emphasize safety first at Drop Zone, and Hunter, a 44-year-old tandem jump master, made it his highest priority.
A flood of condolence messages have been pouring in to Hunter's Web site, they said, as well as to the company, from people around the world who had jumped with Hunter. Students included Thomas' brother, Schofield Barracks soldier Justin Thomas.
The medical examiner's office said the cause of death was multiple injuries, but it is up to the FAA to try to sort out why the main and reserve parachutes failed to deploy as the pair fell from 9,000 feet.
Coleman said parachute fatalities are fairly rare: 35 in the United States in 2001, compared with 32 deaths in 2000, most of them probably solo jumpers.
Meanwhile, the Army said Justin Thomas returned to the family home in Nebraska on Monday on emergency leave. Margaret Thomas was in Hawai'i on a Christmas visit to her brother.
"The U. S. Army will do all it can to help the soldier in this tragic event," said 25th Infantry Division spokesman Bob Warner yesterday. "Our sympathy goes to him and his family during this trying time."
A brother of Hunter, was en route to Hawai'i yesterday to make positive identification of his remains.
Reach Walter Wright at wwright@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8054.
