Student skydiver hurt in accident
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
A man in his 40s was hospitalized yesterday after a skydiving accident at Dillingham Air Field.
Ron Valenciana photo
Mandy Shiraki, an Emergency Medical Services district chief, said the man was taken by helicopter to The Queen's Medical Center shortly after 11 a.m. He was in serious condition.
Firefighters and paramedics prepare an injured skydiver for helicopter transport to The Queen's Medical Center from Dillingham Airfield in Mokule'ia. The man landed on the asphalt in front of Skydive Hawai'i's offices instead of a grassy area nearby.
Clarence Lopez, manager of Skydive Hawai'i, said the man was a student skydiver who had made more than 70 jumps. "He just showed up today," Lopez said. "I looked at his log book. He made most of his jumps on the Mainland."
Lopez said the man "zigged when he should have zagged," and came down on the asphalt in front of Skydive Hawai'i's offices, instead of on a nearby grassy area on the other side of a fence.
There were no equipment malfunctions, he said.
The man appeared to have a compound fracture in his leg, Lopez said. He may have had other injuries as well.
Few skydiving jumps result in injury, Lopez said, but a miscalculation or delayed reaction can have serious consequences. "The hardest thing about skydiving," Lopez said, "is the ground."
Reach Karen Blakeman at kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2430.
