Skydiving is a thrilling but dangerous – and sometimes deadly – activity. The Sacramento Bee has determined that since 1985, a staggering 28 people have died just at this one location outside Lodi, known today as the Parachute Center. Skydivers there have run into each other in midair.
They have had their parachutes malfunction. One dropped over nearby Highway 99 – and was slammed into by a semi-truck. Others have escaped mid-air mishaps, but not without serious injuries. A Bee investigation examined the situation, framed by trying to answer specific questions: How does a place where at least 28 people have died stay in business?
And what more can, or should, be done to prevent fatalities? The answers are complicated, but largely come down to this: Despite the inherent danger, skydiving is for the most part unregulated.
If you're willingly jumping out of an airplane just for the thrill of it, then yeah, you probably should get real comfortable with the idea that you might actually die doing it. So, calculated risk and all that.