Skydiving mishaps are exceedingly rare — so much so that plenty of people take jumps for special occasions, including birthdays, holidays and even weddings.
But accidents do happen — and one on Saturday, November 21, took the life of a Colorado woman.
Geriann Henderson, a 26-year-old from Teller County, died in Pheonix following a tandem jump in which her instructor, Todd DiMauro, reportedly broke both his legs.
As noted by KPHO-TV, DiMauro worked for Skydive Phoenix, which operates a drop zone in Maricopa, just over thirty miles south of Phoenix.
Henderson is said to have experienced skydiving on one prior occasion.
And there appears to have been no indication in advance that her second jump would be problematic.
After all, she was accompanied by DiMauro, who's said to have made more than 5,000 jumps.
Here's a 2012 video of him in action with another student.
This time, however, something went terribly wrong.
Here's how Skydive Phoenix describes what happened in a post on its Facebook page.
Skydive Phoenix had an accident today involving a tandem student conducting her second jump of the Accelerated Skydiving Program. Preliminary reports indicate that the main parachute was not deployed.. folllowed by proper procedures and deployment of the reserve parachute. The reserve parachute was open and flying properly.. But upon landing they encountered turbulence ...possibly a dust devil turning the parachute into the ground at the last second.. The FAA USPA and local authorities have been notified.. and are conducting an independent investigation. Our thoughts and prayers go out to student, instructor and their families. Please respect our privacy and allow the investigation to take its course.
Emergency personnel rushed to the scene.
However, they could not save Henderson.
For his part, DiMauro was transported to an area hospital with two broken legs.
Our condolences to the friends, family and loved ones of Geriann Henderson — and we wish Todd DiMauro a speedy recovery. Here's a report about the accident from KPHO-TV.
CBS 5 - KPHO
