Mile Hi Skydive is the company I used for my first jump: READ THIS

Skydive student, instructor killed in Longmont jump

By Scott Rochat
Longmont Times-Call


LONGMONT — Two skydivers died Saturday afternoon at Vance Brand Airport after a routine jump turned fatal in the last 50 feet. The two victims were a 28-year-old man from Arvada on his first parachute jump and his 54-year-old instructor from Commerce City. The student was pronounced dead at the scene, and the instructor was taken to Longmont United Hospital and died there.

Boulder County Coroner Thomas Faure identified the instructor as Daniel P. Braafhart of Commerce City and the student as Matthew R. Seering of Arvada. Autopsies were scheduled for today.

According to Mile Hi Skydiving, this is the first student death in the company’s 13-year history.

“My condolences go to the two victims’ families,” Mile Hi owner Frank Casares said. “It’s a very tough day for us here.”

According to Mile Hi Skydiving and the Longmont Police Department, the two had been on a tandem jump. On that sort of jump, the student is harnessed to an instructor, who has control of the parachute on the way down.

The two jumped from 10,500 feet above ground level, a total altitude of 15,000 feet. Clay Schultz, the plane’s pilot, said the jump seemed normal.

“Everyone was excited, and they were doing something exciting,” Schultz said. “There was nothing out of the ordinary.”

Three other tandem pairs from the same plane made it down safely. And for most of the descent, it looked like the fourth would do the same. The chute opened normally, and the two descended.

But within 50 feet of the ground, the pair suddenly made a turn. According to Detective Sgt. Jeff Satur, that took the lift out of their chute and brought them down hard.

“They made a turn, lost altitude and hit the ground,” Satur said.

Casares said he did not know why the pair turned at the last minute.

“It’s very unusual to make a turn at low altitude, regardless of the type of jump,” he said. “In our annual swooping contest, they’ll make very aggressive turns, but at high altitude.”

Satur said the instructor had been employed by Mile Hi since 2004 and had significant jump experience before then.

Longmont police and the Federal Aviation Administration were on the scene to investigate. Satur said there appeared to be nothing wrong with the chute or its rigging, although the canopy would be studied more closely.

Vance Brand Airport has seen five skydiving deaths since 1995. The most recent one was the 2006 death of Mariann Kramer of McKinney, Texas, a professional skydiver who died after both her main chute and her reserve malfunctioned. Kramer was competing in the two-day Pro Swooping Tour’s GoFast! Air Festival at Vance Brand.

Before that, Luke Bancroft of Breckenridge died in 2000 after his chute failed to open. And in 1996, Jack Mader, a psychologist for the Thompson School District, died when an irregular heartbeat caused him to lose consciousness and control of his chute during the jump.

According to the United States Parachute Association, skydiving averages 25 fatalities a year. More than 3 million jumps are made in the United States every year.

It is not yet known whether wind was a factor in the accident. Casares and Schultz said it was blowing about 15 mph out of the southwest during the jump.

Mile Hi makes about 35,000 jumps per year, Casares said.

Casares said the company would remain open today.

“These things happen, but we move on,” he said. “Skydivers move on. And I’m sure this instructor would have wanted us to move on.”