On a Friday around noon, two experienced skydivers, Georgia Jean of South Dakota and Levi Pimentel of Illinois, were jumping together in an organized dive over Lake Elsinore, a sun-bleached corner of Southern California about seventy-five miles southeast of Los Angeles. Everything seemed to go as it should until the last stretch of the descent, when they struck one another in the air and their canopies tangled. Both died of their injuries after reaching the ground, and the sport that depends on careful separation in the sky is now left to ask how two people so practiced ended up so close at so
Two Experienced Skydivers Killed After Midair Collision Tangles Their Parachutes in Lake Elsinore
Two experienced skydivers, Georgia Jean and Levi Pimentel, were killed after their parachutes became entangled following a midair collision.
A normal freefall, normal openings, then a collision near the ground.
Mark
Two experienced jumpers died in one accident. What stands out first?
Mimi
The timing. Skydive Elsinore says the freefall and the openings were normal. The collision came around 150 feet up, very late in the descent.
Mark
What do we know about who they were?
Mimi
Georgia Jean was 56, from Box Elder, South Dakota, and Levi Pimentel was 29, from Aurora, Illinois. Both were licensed. Pimentel was a lead instructor at iFLY Naperville, and Jean had more than 1,700 jumps.
Luke
Careful with those last two. They come from a LinkedIn page and a personal website, so they're self-reported, not verified by the reporting.
Mark
Fair. And the account of the collision itself?
Mimi
That comes from the dropzone's statement, which says the collision tangled their parachutes and both were critically injured on reaching the ground.
Luke
Which means the operator is describing its own jump. It's a reasonable account, but it isn't an investigation's finding.
Mark
Is there any explanation for why they collided?
Luke
No. Nothing in the reporting says how they ended up that close, or what the conditions or dive plan were. The FAA is investigating, and until it reports, that's unknown.
Mimi
The fire department confirmed traumatic injuries, the ambulance transport, and that both died at the hospital.
El Pulso
- Two licensed skydivers collided about 150 feet up, and their parachutes became entangled before landing.
- Skydive Elsinore says freefall and canopy openings were normal, so the trouble arose only at low altitude.
- Both skydivers suffered critical injuries and were taken by ambulance to a hospital, where they were pronounced dead.
- The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating, and its findings are not yet available.
- Reporting has not yet explained how the pair came to be so close under canopy or what led to the collision.
On a Friday around noon, two experienced skydivers, Georgia Jean of South Dakota and Levi Pimentel of Illinois, were jumping together in an organized dive over Lake Elsinore, a sun-bleached corner of Southern California about seventy-five miles southeast of Los Angeles. Everything seemed to go as it should until the last stretch of the descent, when they struck one another in the air and their canopies tangled. Both died of their injuries after reaching the ground, and the sport that depends on careful separation in the sky is now left to ask how two people so practiced ended up so close at so low a height. The Federal Aviation Administration has begun to search for that answer, and until it speaks, the moment remains a silence between the open sky and the earth.
Around noon on a Friday, two licensed skydivers were making an organized jump at Skydive Elsinore in Lake Elsinore, California. They had flown down together through the early part of the dive, and by every account the freefall was smooth and both parachutes opened as they should. Then, roughly 150 feet above the ground, they collided, and their canopies tangled. Both reached the earth with critical injuries.
The two who died were Georgia Jean, 56, of Box Elder, South Dakota, and Levi Pimentel, 29, of Aurora, Illinois. Both were considered experienced. Public profiles describe Jean as having made more than 1,700 jumps and Pimentel as a lead instructor at an indoor skydiving facility in Naperville, Illinois. Those figures are self-reported, but they point to people deep in the sport rather than newcomers.
The Riverside County Fire Department said both were taken by ambulance to a hospital, where they were pronounced dead. Skydive Elsinore has described the sequence it observed, a normal freefall and normal openings followed by a collision near the ground, and the Federal Aviation Administration has opened an investigation.
The reporting so far does not explain what caused the collision or how the two came to be so close under canopy. What comes next is the agency's account of those final seconds, and whether it changes how organized dives are run once parachutes are open.
Around noon on Friday, two licensed skydivers who had jumped together as part of an organized dive at Skydive Elsinore came down hard, roughly 150 feet above the ground. They had collided in the air, and their parachutes had tangled. Both reached the ground with critical injuries.
The dropzone is in Lake Elsinore, about 75 miles southeast of Los Angeles. The two people who died were Georgia Jean, 56, of Box Elder, South Dakota, and Levi Pimentel, 29, of Aurora, Illinois. Both held skydiving licenses and were considered experienced.
Skydive Elsinore said nothing appeared wrong earlier in the jump. The freefall portion went normally, the company said, and so did the opening of the parachutes. The trouble came late, at low altitude, when the two collided. In a statement, the company said the collision caused their parachutes to become entangled and that both sustained critical injuries when they reached the ground.
The Riverside County Fire Department said on social media that Jean and Pimentel suffered traumatic injuries and were taken to a hospital by ambulance. Both were pronounced dead there.
Some details about the pair come from their own public profiles. According to her LinkedIn page, Pimentel was a lead skydiving instructor at iFLY Naperville in Illinois, an indoor skydiving facility. According to her website, Jean had made more than 1,700 jumps. Those figures are self-reported, but they point to two people with substantial time in the sport rather than newcomers.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating. The agency's findings are not yet available, and the reporting so far does not say what led to the collision, how the two came to be so close under canopy, or whether anything about the dive plan or conditions played a part. What is known is the sequence the company described: a normal freefall, normal openings, then a collision near the ground.
What to watch for next is the FAA's account of what happened in those final seconds, and whether it says anything about how organized dives are managed once canopies are open.
Citas Notables
The collision caused their parachutes to become entangled, and both sustained critical injuries when they reached the ground.— Skydive Elsinore statement
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