NicknameInCollege

NicknameInCollege t1_ir1ywwo wrote

There was a death at this very same dropzone in 2017 that was initially thought to be accidental until his wife shared that he left her a message insinuating a suicide.

This was my primary dropzone and I knew the man who died. He used to help pickup jumpers in the field and drive the truck back in. I was very shocked by the suicide, as he was always pretty chipper when I saw him.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/video-to-wife-suggests-skydivers-death-in-deland-was-suicide-not-an/2330541/

A very renound skydiver, Carl Daugherty, also died here after a midair collision that caused a hard landing. He was my instructor and last I knew of he had over 17,000 recorded jumps. If there was one man who knew how to regain control of a parachute, it was Carl, but alas the final one proved to be impossible to overcome.

https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/local/volusia/2021/05/18/skydiving-instructor-carl-daugherty-dies-after-mid-air-accident-deland/5145686001/

This DZ has a history of notable deaths, and when you're there people will tell you that if you die you're an asshole because you'll ruin jumps for everyone else.

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