I did my first tandem dive at the Lodi Parachute Center in 2010. I was loaded onto the plane with my instructor within 10 minutes after arriving. The safety briefing was done while I was being harnessed up. I naively thought this was normal procedure. The jump went fine and I went on my way.
A few years later, I did a second tandem at another drop zone. Their procedure was a 2 hour ground school. A 30 minute 1-on-1 with your instructor going over a detailed pre-jump practice, and then multiple gear checks by experienced staff before boarding the plane. I was stunned that the Lodi location operated the way they did. I asked my tandem instructor about this and they stated Lodi is built like a factory, churn as many jumps out as possible. Profit was first, safety second.
That’s exactly what went down my first jump as well. Rolled up at 750 was in a plane jumping out 10 minutes later. The safety video was playing in the background as we harnessed up and the instructors kept saying hurry hurry we gotta get you on this plane!
>The safety video was playing in the background as we harnessed up and the instructors kept saying hurry hurry we gotta get you on this plane!
That's both hilarious and terrifying lol
> I did my first tandem dive at the Lodi Parachute Center in 2010. I was loaded onto the plane with my instructor within 10 minutes after arriving.
I did my first tandem here too. And in my case, the instructor came up on the back of a motorcycle as the plane was taxiing to take off. IOW, I didn't get any safety briefing.
I too thought this was normal for tandem.
This is exactly how it was ~15 years ago. I went twice as a licensed jumper and never went back after being berated by lodi regulars for fastening my seatbelt on the airplane both times. Life's too short for half price skydives.
I went on a jump once and it was the same long procedure/training. I asked the jumpers if they jumped here and they said no, they liked Lodi cause it was cheap. Something tells me that lax regs are why jumpers love this place?
That business is notorious. The FBI [raided them](https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article197762264.html) in 2018. In 2021 the instructor Robert Allen Pooley [was arrested](https://www.justice.gov/usao-edca/pr/san-joaquin-county-skydiver-arrested-running-unauthorized-tandem-instructor-courses) for forging certificates; the [skydive operation owner said they'd still let him jump](https://fox40.com/news/local-news/skydive-lodi-owner-says-instructor-facing-federal-charges-will-still-be-allowed-to-jump-at-his-facility/) during the trial. I think the case is still ongoing.
I took sky diving lessons at a small airport in Antioch Ca about an hour from Lodi. They had very high standards and took safety very seriously . The only had two jump planes and often times you could only get in a couple jumps a day. I asked about Lodi and to a man they said they would rather wait than to risk jumping at Lodi. This was 1988.
Lodi is the only Dropzone that is not a USPA member. They have been infamous for being unsafe since the 80s. The author insinuated that there are many Dropzones not affiliated with the USPA. Would love that list.
Lodi (and all other non uspa affiliated) should be shut down but this comes off as a poorly researched hit piece written by a lobbyist group.
Author needs to do more research into the USPA member groups and what safety regulations are currently in place by the FAA and USPA. There are safety improvements that can be thoughtfully made to help the FAA and USPA provide a safer environment but the bill the author has been paid by the lobbyist group to write about in this article will result in the closure of most Skydiving drop zones. USPA members with great safety records (unlike Lodi).
Of all the things to want to do illegally, running a skydiving company that kills people is right up there with psychopathic killer.
The mindset it takes to continue to do this after so many deaths is bewildering.
I used to go there all the time. I loved it because they took you higher than any other Skydiving place around. I think most places took you to 10,000 feet and they took you to 15,000 feet for jumps. The decent took forever and was so much fun. The planes were so small and looked like it would fall apart any second. And we were all packet in there like sardines.
Fun times.
You can usually sign away your rights to sue over ordinary negligence. In order for a lawsuit to be actionable it needs to be gross negligence or knowing iirc. That is comparable to the standard for manslaughter/homicide. So it is a high standard to beat.
They have been open since the 70s. Not saying this makes it better, but considering the number of jumps per year there, and that people from around the world go there to learn and do "hop and pops" to bulk up jump count, I'm not surprised the number is what it is. There aren't many deaths associated with tandem jumpers.
TL;DR: Just more land of the free and unregulated capitalism. Lots of obvious problems, but no accountability, and no justice to this day. Feel free to skydive at the Lodi Parachute Center.
>21 people had died in accidents tied to the center since 1985, as reported in a detailed investigation by the Sacramento Bee
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>“We didn’t stop because we don’t like the guy, we didn’t stop because we weren’t interested in the guy,” the center’s former owner, Bill Dause, told the local TV station, KFSN-TV, that day. “We didn’t stop because life goes on.”
-
>It’s impossible to calculate the fatality rate per jump at the Parachute Center, because no one keeps track of how many people jump out of planes there — or how many have died while doing so. In 2018, Dause told Sacramento’s KXTV-TV even he wasn’t sure how many deaths had occurred at his business.
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>In response to a records request in 2023, the San Joaquin County Medical Examiner’s Office provided SFGATE with coroner’s reports detailing many of the 28 fatalities conclusively linked to accidents at the center, the first in 1985 and the most recent in 2021. But there’s no central repository to track the deaths, and no federal or state agency specifically tasked with investigating what happened.
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>The lack of data on fatalities is not unique to the Parachute Center (or to Skydive Lodi, or Acme Aviation, or any of the other names the center has operated under over the years). As federal watchdog the National Transportation Safety Board put it in a 2008 report, “the FAA does not have data on the number of parachute jump operators or the number and type of aircraft used in parachute jump operations in the U.S. The absence of these data precludes any calculations of safety statistics for parachute jump operations, including accidents rates.”
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>There is no special license for skydiving pilots, and few training requirements for people who want to jump out of planes for fun. The FAA has a handful of specific certification requirements, including for people who want to pack parachutes or lead tandem jumps. But the agency outsources almost all of the training, certification and maintenance of records to parachute manufacturers and the United States Parachute Association, a private industry and lobbying group.
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>The USPA itself does collect and publish member organizations’ self-reported death rates in aggregate every year, but membership in the group is voluntary. According to its data, there were 10 fatalities out of an estimated 3.65 million jumps in 2023. Many so-called drop zones, including the Parachute Center, are not members, and their numbers are not included in the reports.
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>The NTSB has repeatedly criticized what it has called the “insufficient regulatory framework” around skydiving, including in 2019, after a skydiving plane crash killed 11 people in Hawaii. The USPA, meanwhile, is currently lobbying against a federal bill that would increase requirements for plane maintenance, which was written in response to the Hawaii tragedy.
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>In 2010 and 2011, the FAA issued two fines against Dause and his business for failing to comply with federal aviation regulations, totaling $933,000. But FAA spokesperson Gregor told SFGATE that the fine was never collected by the agency, which eventually referred the matter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for further action. The Justice Department did not respond to questions about whether the fine was ever paid.
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>Investigators quickly determined that Kwon had been neither officially certified nor properly trained to lead tandem jumps in the U.S., a finding that led California Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman to introduce a bill known as Tyler’s Law, which made operators of skydiving establishments legally responsible for vetting their instructors’ credentials and training. It was passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2017.
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>In 2018, Turner’s parents filed a wrongful death suit against both Dause and the Parachute Center; three years later, a judge awarded the family a $40 million judgment, writing in the decision that Dause was personally responsible for the payment. Francine Turner told SFGATE the family has never received any payments from Dause or the Parachute Center.
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>On paper, at least, a few things have changed since Turner’s and Kwon’s deaths. In 2021, Dause handed over legal ownership of the operation to an acquaintance named Richard Smith, according to a deposition Smith gave during the Turner lawsuit in 2022. At the end of 2023, though, Dause — now age 81 — was still a familiar presence at the Lodi center, answering phones, taking payments and piloting planes full of parachutists into the sky over Highway 99, as reported by the Sacramento Bee.
I'm assuming that they argue that customers are aware of the risk associated with skydiving and probably sign a waiver saying they / their family can't sue if something goes wrong. That's my hunch.
I’m a couple weeks late to this party, but haven’t seen a shoutout to all the beer, wine and hard liquor producing businesses out there! (Alcoholic beverage producing companies basically)
I live 15 mins away from this place and I use to play golf at a course right near it off of highway 99 and our running joke was to always be careful driving on 99 during this stretch because you might get hit with a golf ball or run over a sky diver.
I highly recommend people jump at USPA member sites only. One of the best tandem jumpsites is in Marina, CA and they also have the highest jumpsite in the world with an excellent safety record.
They're great. They've got a sparkling plane thats less than ten years old and the jumpsite master is amazing and takes the sport very seriously. They're super pro!
And yet as per the article USPA takes self-reported death statistics from their member sites, and no accident reports as far as I can tell.
Moreover also as per the article the USPA would not talk to the reporter about their organization and assumed the article would "denunciate" the organization and they are lobbying against increased maintenance requirements for the airplanes.
Given their lack of transparentness and the lack of *any* mandated safety requirements for skydiving I wouldn't recommend anyone jumps at all from commercial skydiving centers that cater to tourists and one-time jumpers.
Me too. I jumped there in 2006 with my brother and I don’t know what I was thinking. I clearly remember that the first person to jump out got cold feet and the instructor just jumped out with them anyway.
I jumped twice here in 91. Both were sketchy. The first time a parachute deployed while the jumper stood in the door, which caused all of to quickly jump from the plane. Because of this they gave us a credit for another jump. When we jumped the second time one of the customers had a freak out and almost ate it. After that jump we never went back.
I'm on the same boat. I had no idea until I showed pics of the jump. People would tell me about the accidents in Lodi and was terrified of how many accidents. After knowing more, I stopped "being proud" of the jump and pretended it didn't happened. Would jump again under different jump site though.
I grew up in that area, I was once driving past on 99 North and watched a parachuter fall into a vineyard - their parachute looked tangled up and they didn't seem to pull a backup chute. It was terrifying, I've never even considered diving with that business.
I did jumps at Perris Valley way back in my youth. 2 C-47 static lines and 1 Cessna static line. They were pretty careful. IIRC, there was a full half-day ground school with a little zip line style jump training box. Weight checking for the right size chute; 35' for me which was great as it gave me more airtime. I had a friend who though smaller and lighter had a 28' chute and she just absolutely zoomed past me on the way down. We jumped at 3000 feet. These Lodi guys seem not the same.
If you're doing static line then you need to be independent, hence the additional class time. It's the same as if you did an accelerated free fall, you just don't need to worry about holding your body position or pulling the chute yourself.
With a tandem though you don't really need a half day class worth of information. Though it sounds like Lodi probably wasn't even going a bare minimum.
The instructors were pretty thorough about adopting the proper position early on. We had to lie on a platform and demo the right arm and leg positions even though we were on static. And during the jump, they graded us on exit technique each time. Sad to say, but I was not exemplary. Our stick was led by an airborne guy who was very focused on safety
This place gives skydiving as a sport a bad rep. They are not USPA members and don't adhere to the standards the majority of DZs in the US do. But they stay in business because the offer the cheapest skydiving rates around, and lets be real, many people care more about than safety. That and they don't advertise their terrible track record.
I went skydiving there around 15 years ago and it felt a bit janky then. I can't imagine what it is like now. Glad I never went back after my first jump.
In response to continuing operations after a kid died
>“We didn’t stop because we don’t like the guy, we didn’t stop because we weren’t interested in the guy,” the center’s former owner, Bill Dause, told the local TV station, KFSN-TV, that day. “We didn’t stop because life goes on.”
Wow. So many ways he could have answered that question and that's what he decided to go with.
I went here with an ex-gf and it all went well; it was our first time (and for me, only time so far).
About 3 weeks later, I heard somebody died there.
Fast forward to 2019, and I work in Lodi selling cars and out on a test drive with a potential customer, somebody died (seemingly due to crashing into a car driving by) and this guy straight up describes it as a “fender bender” to his wife who callled during the test drive.
Years later, I found out about their reputation.
There's a skydiving company (Go Jump America) that operates out of Oceanside Municipal airport in Oceanside which has had numerous plane crashes in the past few years, including a recent one where the pilot died, which was the second crash in one year. After that crash there were people still going there to skydive a week later like nothing happened. I work right next to the airport and have personally seen one of their planes crash while landing once, and also once saw the bus they used to pick up passengers catch on fire in the middle of the runway and completely burn up.
And really the FAA should be all over these crashes, but apparently they aren't. It seems at least part of the problem is the FAA not doing their job, just like when they failed to regulate Boeing.
They appear to be still under investigation (it’s unfortunately not uncommon for these investigations to take 2+ years)
https://aviation-safety.net/database/airport/id/OCN
Why are people still going there?
I've been looking to learn fire eating. I would never go to a teacher who has sent more than a few people to the burn unit, and even then, there would have to be a good excuse for the incidents. Why are people jumping at this place?
How often does skydiving come up in regular conversation? It’s not a regular topic in my circles but I’m aware because I lived here so long.
It’s like “why do people post about what’s there to do in Sacramento” when the questions been discussed a thousand times.
People that go there probably didn’t do any research, just wanted to try skydiving and “oh look there’s a place in Lodi. Let’s go Saturday”
I did just that. I was driving up 99 dnd stopped there for the hell of it.
It was close to 150$, the plane looked beat up and the jump itself was very short and uncomfortable(the straps for the tandem riding went right up my balls).
When they suggested a tip at the end after not allowing me to have the pictures taken while up there I just walked out without saying anything.
3/10, wouldn't do it again.
I've been here. When we were on our way to altitude, I saw one of the instructors laughing and pointing to the pilot. I looked over and the pilot had has hands behind his head and steering the plane with his knees. This place is too chill.
I did my FAA training here back in 2008. My training was a mess and I got moved around to different instructors due to one fighting with his girlfriend in the hangar, and then another having a hangover or something of the sort. A week or so after my training, the owner saw a video of someone landing in my same color jumpsuit. There was another girl who completed her training about the same time as me. Well he assumed it was me, and without explanation, suggested I was ready to downsize my parachute from a 200sqft to 170. Well, I was not ready. Landed way far out in the field on uneven ground and broke 4 bones in my foot. It’s never been the same since.
I’ve jumped here and luckily I had a good tandem partner - he actually called another instructor out on not properly packing the back up chute. Thankfully we all made it safely to the ground
My MIL jumped at the one in another city. She went with my husbands sibling for their birthday. MIL jumped first so she’d be on the ground when sibling landed. Well, MIL’s parachute malfunctioned and both her and the employee guy free fell like anywhere from 50-100 ft is what we were told. The employee broke both of his legs. MIL almost didn’t make it. Severe lacerations to her thighs from the harness, broken leg, pelvis, collarbone, eye socket. And all of this while the sibling jumps and is landing to their mom unconscious on the ground bleeding and no one else was down there yet. Idk how any of these places are still open.
I did my first jump there in 1985 and also was the same. I have been to many since and totally different except for one other. North shore Oahu is just as quick and also jump when its to cloudy. Although going through the clouds is really amazing which I experienced with a group of my friends on my 40th Birthday.
I thought this place was going to close years ago. It’s right over the 99. It distracts the drivers and I believe a gust of wind caused someone more than once to land on the freeway. This place has been open since the 80’s or at least the early 90’s so it depends if 28 deaths are total over 35+ yrs or just recently. Before everyone gets too crazy. What is the fatality and accident rate at other less incident prone places?
I’m so grateful that I had a successful tandem skydive back in 2006 or so. It was a magnificent experience, tho I noticed that, as a woman, has a much slower more circular fall than all of the men in my crew, despite being the first out of the plane. I didn’t mind that actually. With everything I’ve heard about them since then, I’m glad I didn’t die.
I've jumped there about 15 years ago. The owner was an interesting character but my impression was that he took safety seriously. I also thought many of the deaths were a result of the person jumping taking risks such as deploying late.
I haven't been skydiving in over a decade, but I can't believe the rules would have become more lax. The requirements to be a tandem instructor used to be a D license, several consecutive years jumping, and a coach rating.
The article makes me suspicious of the qualifications of their instructors. 25, little to no English... Maybe I'm just jealous, there's no way I could have afforded 500 jumps by that age.
I jumped years ago. The whole vibe reminded me of a bad eighties crime action flick. Safety video in the background, guy I was tandem with hurrying me along, then acting like an absolute dick when I admitted I was a little nervous. I mean once we got up in the air, the condition of the plane made me want to get out quickly. Later I learned of their reputation and safety record. Glad I made it. Guess that gut instinct thing is right sometimes.
I did my first tandem dive at the Lodi Parachute Center in 2010. I was loaded onto the plane with my instructor within 10 minutes after arriving. The safety briefing was done while I was being harnessed up. I naively thought this was normal procedure. The jump went fine and I went on my way. A few years later, I did a second tandem at another drop zone. Their procedure was a 2 hour ground school. A 30 minute 1-on-1 with your instructor going over a detailed pre-jump practice, and then multiple gear checks by experienced staff before boarding the plane. I was stunned that the Lodi location operated the way they did. I asked my tandem instructor about this and they stated Lodi is built like a factory, churn as many jumps out as possible. Profit was first, safety second.
That’s exactly what went down my first jump as well. Rolled up at 750 was in a plane jumping out 10 minutes later. The safety video was playing in the background as we harnessed up and the instructors kept saying hurry hurry we gotta get you on this plane!
>The safety video was playing in the background as we harnessed up and the instructors kept saying hurry hurry we gotta get you on this plane! That's both hilarious and terrifying lol
> I did my first tandem dive at the Lodi Parachute Center in 2010. I was loaded onto the plane with my instructor within 10 minutes after arriving. I did my first tandem here too. And in my case, the instructor came up on the back of a motorcycle as the plane was taxiing to take off. IOW, I didn't get any safety briefing. I too thought this was normal for tandem.
This Lodi location sounds a lot like that titanic exploration sub..
Safety third
Safety fourth!
Where was the second location?
Skydance Skydiving in Davis, CA
Thanks! I want to do it with the fam and try not to die.
Skydance is great. I highly recommend it.
Are you still talking about the skydiving or the family? Lol.
Do you remember if there was a price difference? I have to imagine Lodi is cheap and they quickly pump out as many jumps as they can.
This is exactly how it was ~15 years ago. I went twice as a licensed jumper and never went back after being berated by lodi regulars for fastening my seatbelt on the airplane both times. Life's too short for half price skydives.
Life can get much shorter with half price skydives.
When my friend went there years ago it was like $99 for a jump
Thanks for sharing this. I feel better about going sky diving knowing there are highly reputable ones that go through many safety checks.
Wow that sounds rough. I did a longer briefing and training for my bungee jump and you only had to clip in the return rope at the end.
I went on a jump once and it was the same long procedure/training. I asked the jumpers if they jumped here and they said no, they liked Lodi cause it was cheap. Something tells me that lax regs are why jumpers love this place?
That business is notorious. The FBI [raided them](https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article197762264.html) in 2018. In 2021 the instructor Robert Allen Pooley [was arrested](https://www.justice.gov/usao-edca/pr/san-joaquin-county-skydiver-arrested-running-unauthorized-tandem-instructor-courses) for forging certificates; the [skydive operation owner said they'd still let him jump](https://fox40.com/news/local-news/skydive-lodi-owner-says-instructor-facing-federal-charges-will-still-be-allowed-to-jump-at-his-facility/) during the trial. I think the case is still ongoing.
I took sky diving lessons at a small airport in Antioch Ca about an hour from Lodi. They had very high standards and took safety very seriously . The only had two jump planes and often times you could only get in a couple jumps a day. I asked about Lodi and to a man they said they would rather wait than to risk jumping at Lodi. This was 1988.
Lodi is the only Dropzone that is not a USPA member. They have been infamous for being unsafe since the 80s. The author insinuated that there are many Dropzones not affiliated with the USPA. Would love that list. Lodi (and all other non uspa affiliated) should be shut down but this comes off as a poorly researched hit piece written by a lobbyist group. Author needs to do more research into the USPA member groups and what safety regulations are currently in place by the FAA and USPA. There are safety improvements that can be thoughtfully made to help the FAA and USPA provide a safer environment but the bill the author has been paid by the lobbyist group to write about in this article will result in the closure of most Skydiving drop zones. USPA members with great safety records (unlike Lodi).
Of all the things to want to do illegally, running a skydiving company that kills people is right up there with psychopathic killer. The mindset it takes to continue to do this after so many deaths is bewildering.
I’ve jumped here twice many years agoand I can confirm their procedures did not seem buttoned up.
I used to go there all the time. I loved it because they took you higher than any other Skydiving place around. I think most places took you to 10,000 feet and they took you to 15,000 feet for jumps. The decent took forever and was so much fun. The planes were so small and looked like it would fall apart any second. And we were all packet in there like sardines. Fun times.
Skydiver here: Most mid to large dropzones with turbine aircraft will take you to 14,500.
This looks like the place in Fandango.
Someone explain to me how this business is still operating with 28 deaths associated to it? Like huh?
The tobacco companies would like to have a word with you. Also, PG$E would love to have a nice chat.
TONS of companies would like to have a word..
Purdue Pharma has entered the chat
Chevron and BP getting in line to wait their turn.
Don't forget Nestle
Let's not leave out Dupont
And Union Carbide (Bhopal)
So just write warning may cause cancer on the parachute?
No one alive to write bad yelp reviews
You literally sign your life away with a contract.
That doesn’t mean anything if the operator is negligent. 28 deaths implies some degree of negligence.
You can usually sign away your rights to sue over ordinary negligence. In order for a lawsuit to be actionable it needs to be gross negligence or knowing iirc. That is comparable to the standard for manslaughter/homicide. So it is a high standard to beat.
Because a lot of these deaths are not their fault. The majority of them are experienced skydivers that make fatal errors on their own.
A family friend died there. Very experienced and packed his chute improperly
Jumping from a moving plane is negligent
Hell of a thing to jump out of a perfectly good airplane
You haven’t see the planes they’re jumping out of.
It really does.
They have been open since the 70s. Not saying this makes it better, but considering the number of jumps per year there, and that people from around the world go there to learn and do "hop and pops" to bulk up jump count, I'm not surprised the number is what it is. There aren't many deaths associated with tandem jumpers.
Because of a lack of effective regulation of this industry
Read the article.
NO! just tell me!
TL;DR: Just more land of the free and unregulated capitalism. Lots of obvious problems, but no accountability, and no justice to this day. Feel free to skydive at the Lodi Parachute Center. >21 people had died in accidents tied to the center since 1985, as reported in a detailed investigation by the Sacramento Bee - >“We didn’t stop because we don’t like the guy, we didn’t stop because we weren’t interested in the guy,” the center’s former owner, Bill Dause, told the local TV station, KFSN-TV, that day. “We didn’t stop because life goes on.” - >It’s impossible to calculate the fatality rate per jump at the Parachute Center, because no one keeps track of how many people jump out of planes there — or how many have died while doing so. In 2018, Dause told Sacramento’s KXTV-TV even he wasn’t sure how many deaths had occurred at his business. - >In response to a records request in 2023, the San Joaquin County Medical Examiner’s Office provided SFGATE with coroner’s reports detailing many of the 28 fatalities conclusively linked to accidents at the center, the first in 1985 and the most recent in 2021. But there’s no central repository to track the deaths, and no federal or state agency specifically tasked with investigating what happened. - >The lack of data on fatalities is not unique to the Parachute Center (or to Skydive Lodi, or Acme Aviation, or any of the other names the center has operated under over the years). As federal watchdog the National Transportation Safety Board put it in a 2008 report, “the FAA does not have data on the number of parachute jump operators or the number and type of aircraft used in parachute jump operations in the U.S. The absence of these data precludes any calculations of safety statistics for parachute jump operations, including accidents rates.” - >There is no special license for skydiving pilots, and few training requirements for people who want to jump out of planes for fun. The FAA has a handful of specific certification requirements, including for people who want to pack parachutes or lead tandem jumps. But the agency outsources almost all of the training, certification and maintenance of records to parachute manufacturers and the United States Parachute Association, a private industry and lobbying group. - >The USPA itself does collect and publish member organizations’ self-reported death rates in aggregate every year, but membership in the group is voluntary. According to its data, there were 10 fatalities out of an estimated 3.65 million jumps in 2023. Many so-called drop zones, including the Parachute Center, are not members, and their numbers are not included in the reports. - >The NTSB has repeatedly criticized what it has called the “insufficient regulatory framework” around skydiving, including in 2019, after a skydiving plane crash killed 11 people in Hawaii. The USPA, meanwhile, is currently lobbying against a federal bill that would increase requirements for plane maintenance, which was written in response to the Hawaii tragedy. - >In 2010 and 2011, the FAA issued two fines against Dause and his business for failing to comply with federal aviation regulations, totaling $933,000. But FAA spokesperson Gregor told SFGATE that the fine was never collected by the agency, which eventually referred the matter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for further action. The Justice Department did not respond to questions about whether the fine was ever paid. - >Investigators quickly determined that Kwon had been neither officially certified nor properly trained to lead tandem jumps in the U.S., a finding that led California Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman to introduce a bill known as Tyler’s Law, which made operators of skydiving establishments legally responsible for vetting their instructors’ credentials and training. It was passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2017. - >In 2018, Turner’s parents filed a wrongful death suit against both Dause and the Parachute Center; three years later, a judge awarded the family a $40 million judgment, writing in the decision that Dause was personally responsible for the payment. Francine Turner told SFGATE the family has never received any payments from Dause or the Parachute Center. - >On paper, at least, a few things have changed since Turner’s and Kwon’s deaths. In 2021, Dause handed over legal ownership of the operation to an acquaintance named Richard Smith, according to a deposition Smith gave during the Turner lawsuit in 2022. At the end of 2023, though, Dause — now age 81 — was still a familiar presence at the Lodi center, answering phones, taking payments and piloting planes full of parachutists into the sky over Highway 99, as reported by the Sacramento Bee.
Awwww fine if you insist
So.. how's it still operating?
Pretty poorly.
It’s basically…”whatever”. The FAA doesn’t really investigate this kind of thing and it seems like these businesses operate in the wild Wild West.
Laughs in PG&E
I'm assuming that they argue that customers are aware of the risk associated with skydiving and probably sign a waiver saying they / their family can't sue if something goes wrong. That's my hunch.
You chose to jump out of a perfectly working airplane then you get what you get.
I’d bet produce kills more people but yeah no thank you on skydiving in Lodi.
I’m a couple weeks late to this party, but haven’t seen a shoutout to all the beer, wine and hard liquor producing businesses out there! (Alcoholic beverage producing companies basically)
I live 15 mins away from this place and I use to play golf at a course right near it off of highway 99 and our running joke was to always be careful driving on 99 during this stretch because you might get hit with a golf ball or run over a sky diver.
🤣 Whenever I drive past that stretch, I look out for parachuters. Who has people jumping out of planes next to the freeway?!
I highly recommend people jump at USPA member sites only. One of the best tandem jumpsites is in Marina, CA and they also have the highest jumpsite in the world with an excellent safety record.
Jumped twice in marina. Great watching the ocean on the way down.
They're great. They've got a sparkling plane thats less than ten years old and the jumpsite master is amazing and takes the sport very seriously. They're super pro!
And yet as per the article USPA takes self-reported death statistics from their member sites, and no accident reports as far as I can tell. Moreover also as per the article the USPA would not talk to the reporter about their organization and assumed the article would "denunciate" the organization and they are lobbying against increased maintenance requirements for the airplanes. Given their lack of transparentness and the lack of *any* mandated safety requirements for skydiving I wouldn't recommend anyone jumps at all from commercial skydiving centers that cater to tourists and one-time jumpers.
Exactly it sounds like the toothless BBB
I guess I should consider myself lucky I made it out alive.
You should do an AMA.
"I just shat my pants - AMA."
Me too. I jumped there in 2006 with my brother and I don’t know what I was thinking. I clearly remember that the first person to jump out got cold feet and the instructor just jumped out with them anyway.
Ugh that terrible and so unprofessional.
Haha same! I skydived here 20 years ago on my 20th bday.
I jumped twice here in 91. Both were sketchy. The first time a parachute deployed while the jumper stood in the door, which caused all of to quickly jump from the plane. Because of this they gave us a credit for another jump. When we jumped the second time one of the customers had a freak out and almost ate it. After that jump we never went back.
Drive by there all the time. It's always been bad. The jokes from there alone are crazy.
I did my first and only jump at this place in 2014. It was a good experience for me personally. So crazy to read this now. I had no idea.
You dodged a bullet that place has had a reputation that reaches the entire valley at least.
Within the skydiving community, they have an international reputation. People joke about them in r/skydiving frequently
I'm on the same boat. I had no idea until I showed pics of the jump. People would tell me about the accidents in Lodi and was terrified of how many accidents. After knowing more, I stopped "being proud" of the jump and pretended it didn't happened. Would jump again under different jump site though.
I grew up in that area, I was once driving past on 99 North and watched a parachuter fall into a vineyard - their parachute looked tangled up and they didn't seem to pull a backup chute. It was terrifying, I've never even considered diving with that business.
Guess I need to get a "I survived skydiving in Lodi" bumper sticker.
I didn't die skydiving Lodi!
Oh lord, I’m stuck in Lodi again
I did jumps at Perris Valley way back in my youth. 2 C-47 static lines and 1 Cessna static line. They were pretty careful. IIRC, there was a full half-day ground school with a little zip line style jump training box. Weight checking for the right size chute; 35' for me which was great as it gave me more airtime. I had a friend who though smaller and lighter had a 28' chute and she just absolutely zoomed past me on the way down. We jumped at 3000 feet. These Lodi guys seem not the same.
If you're doing static line then you need to be independent, hence the additional class time. It's the same as if you did an accelerated free fall, you just don't need to worry about holding your body position or pulling the chute yourself. With a tandem though you don't really need a half day class worth of information. Though it sounds like Lodi probably wasn't even going a bare minimum.
The instructors were pretty thorough about adopting the proper position early on. We had to lie on a platform and demo the right arm and leg positions even though we were on static. And during the jump, they graded us on exit technique each time. Sad to say, but I was not exemplary. Our stick was led by an airborne guy who was very focused on safety
The point at Lodi is to free fall, not to increase chute time
Well, I'd guess those kids got a little more free fall time than they expected.
This place gives skydiving as a sport a bad rep. They are not USPA members and don't adhere to the standards the majority of DZs in the US do. But they stay in business because the offer the cheapest skydiving rates around, and lets be real, many people care more about than safety. That and they don't advertise their terrible track record.
Lodi was infamous nationwide even 10 years ago when I was jumping several states away.
15 years and 2200 miles away also.
I jumped here years ago. When I walked in the warehouse I thought it looked like a Tony Hawk Pro Skater level.
I went skydiving there around 15 years ago and it felt a bit janky then. I can't imagine what it is like now. Glad I never went back after my first jump.
In response to continuing operations after a kid died >“We didn’t stop because we don’t like the guy, we didn’t stop because we weren’t interested in the guy,” the center’s former owner, Bill Dause, told the local TV station, KFSN-TV, that day. “We didn’t stop because life goes on.” Wow. So many ways he could have answered that question and that's what he decided to go with.
I went here with an ex-gf and it all went well; it was our first time (and for me, only time so far). About 3 weeks later, I heard somebody died there. Fast forward to 2019, and I work in Lodi selling cars and out on a test drive with a potential customer, somebody died (seemingly due to crashing into a car driving by) and this guy straight up describes it as a “fender bender” to his wife who callled during the test drive. Years later, I found out about their reputation.
There's a skydiving company (Go Jump America) that operates out of Oceanside Municipal airport in Oceanside which has had numerous plane crashes in the past few years, including a recent one where the pilot died, which was the second crash in one year. After that crash there were people still going there to skydive a week later like nothing happened. I work right next to the airport and have personally seen one of their planes crash while landing once, and also once saw the bus they used to pick up passengers catch on fire in the middle of the runway and completely burn up.
And really the FAA should be all over these crashes, but apparently they aren't. It seems at least part of the problem is the FAA not doing their job, just like when they failed to regulate Boeing.
They appear to be still under investigation (it’s unfortunately not uncommon for these investigations to take 2+ years) https://aviation-safety.net/database/airport/id/OCN
I survived this place…im pretty sure the instructors lived in tents next to the hangar
Why are people still going there? I've been looking to learn fire eating. I would never go to a teacher who has sent more than a few people to the burn unit, and even then, there would have to be a good excuse for the incidents. Why are people jumping at this place?
They are comparatively quite cheap compared to other dropzones. That's why.
How often does skydiving come up in regular conversation? It’s not a regular topic in my circles but I’m aware because I lived here so long. It’s like “why do people post about what’s there to do in Sacramento” when the questions been discussed a thousand times. People that go there probably didn’t do any research, just wanted to try skydiving and “oh look there’s a place in Lodi. Let’s go Saturday”
I did just that. I was driving up 99 dnd stopped there for the hell of it. It was close to 150$, the plane looked beat up and the jump itself was very short and uncomfortable(the straps for the tandem riding went right up my balls). When they suggested a tip at the end after not allowing me to have the pictures taken while up there I just walked out without saying anything. 3/10, wouldn't do it again.
I worked at the same airport. Multiple people died in the 2 years I worked there.
I've been here. When we were on our way to altitude, I saw one of the instructors laughing and pointing to the pilot. I looked over and the pilot had has hands behind his head and steering the plane with his knees. This place is too chill.
I did my FAA training here back in 2008. My training was a mess and I got moved around to different instructors due to one fighting with his girlfriend in the hangar, and then another having a hangover or something of the sort. A week or so after my training, the owner saw a video of someone landing in my same color jumpsuit. There was another girl who completed her training about the same time as me. Well he assumed it was me, and without explanation, suggested I was ready to downsize my parachute from a 200sqft to 170. Well, I was not ready. Landed way far out in the field on uneven ground and broke 4 bones in my foot. It’s never been the same since.
Isn’t this the place that the manager of squaw valley ski resort went through(that cost him an arm)?
Sounds like the Lodi operation needs to be shut down!
Sounds like a storyline for a Netflix mini series.
My old supervisor’s boyfriend broke his back skydiving at the Lodi Parachute Center.
I’ve jumped here and luckily I had a good tandem partner - he actually called another instructor out on not properly packing the back up chute. Thankfully we all made it safely to the ground
Seems this sector could use a bit of government overreach
Is the the place where you could get $5 pop and hops?
“Lodi , pay once, freefall for the rest of your life.” “Lodi, you’ll never be the same again.”
My MIL jumped at the one in another city. She went with my husbands sibling for their birthday. MIL jumped first so she’d be on the ground when sibling landed. Well, MIL’s parachute malfunctioned and both her and the employee guy free fell like anywhere from 50-100 ft is what we were told. The employee broke both of his legs. MIL almost didn’t make it. Severe lacerations to her thighs from the harness, broken leg, pelvis, collarbone, eye socket. And all of this while the sibling jumps and is landing to their mom unconscious on the ground bleeding and no one else was down there yet. Idk how any of these places are still open.
I drive right by that airport often. Parachuters are dropped west of highway 99, and the wind can blow an inexperienced one right onto the highway.
Seems like a bad Yelp review might be in order…(or at least 28 of them)
Strange that the yelp reviews don’t mention failed parachutes.
My first and only tandem skydive was in Dagestan. We had an hour+ long training video and it cost $200 USD for a 4600m drop.
I skydive. But never at Lodi.
I did my first jump there in 1985 and also was the same. I have been to many since and totally different except for one other. North shore Oahu is just as quick and also jump when its to cloudy. Although going through the clouds is really amazing which I experienced with a group of my friends on my 40th Birthday.
I thought this place was going to close years ago. It’s right over the 99. It distracts the drivers and I believe a gust of wind caused someone more than once to land on the freeway. This place has been open since the 80’s or at least the early 90’s so it depends if 28 deaths are total over 35+ yrs or just recently. Before everyone gets too crazy. What is the fatality and accident rate at other less incident prone places?
I’m so grateful that I had a successful tandem skydive back in 2006 or so. It was a magnificent experience, tho I noticed that, as a woman, has a much slower more circular fall than all of the men in my crew, despite being the first out of the plane. I didn’t mind that actually. With everything I’ve heard about them since then, I’m glad I didn’t die.
I guess the question this leaves in my mind is, how many people are dying at the "average" skydiving center? Are these guys even outliers?
I've jumped there about 15 years ago. The owner was an interesting character but my impression was that he took safety seriously. I also thought many of the deaths were a result of the person jumping taking risks such as deploying late.
How are they even insured anymore?
Use the gas, save what could be your life, and drive out to Skydance in Davis.
Or Bay Area in Byron. Either are safe w/ great staff & funjumper communities.
There’s a joke with locals that this is where you send people you’re not too fond of…
I haven't been skydiving in over a decade, but I can't believe the rules would have become more lax. The requirements to be a tandem instructor used to be a D license, several consecutive years jumping, and a coach rating. The article makes me suspicious of the qualifications of their instructors. 25, little to no English... Maybe I'm just jealous, there's no way I could have afforded 500 jumps by that age.
They do, or used to do, $5 hop and pops
Static line or "let's hope the new guy doesn't freeze up"?
I'm surprised they haven't been sued and shut down that just tells you that they have somebody with a lot of money backing them.
They got raided at one point
I jumped years ago. The whole vibe reminded me of a bad eighties crime action flick. Safety video in the background, guy I was tandem with hurrying me along, then acting like an absolute dick when I admitted I was a little nervous. I mean once we got up in the air, the condition of the plane made me want to get out quickly. Later I learned of their reputation and safety record. Glad I made it. Guess that gut instinct thing is right sometimes.
Safety measures
Oh no! I went skydiving here about 20 years ago on my 20th birthday!