TRAGEDY IN THE SKIES
Ben Dupont, shown here in an earlier, safely executed jump, died Saturday in Gatineau. A friend says Dupont leaped without a device that might have saved his life.
When Ben Dupont jumped from a plane in the skies above Gatineau on Saturday, he wasn’t wearing a device that might have saved his life.
The 27-year-old skydiver from Sudbury collided with another jumper shortly after launching himself from the plane, witnesses told the Citizen.
On Monday, Gatineau police said it was too early in their investigation to tell whether Dupont lost consciousness after the mid-air collision. However, Roman Turets- kiy, a long-time skydiving friend of Dupont’s, said he did. “Ben was unconscious,” he said. Turetskiy, along with another witness who was part of the jumping party, said Dupont was unable to deploy his parachute after the collision. He started to drop, and yet he shouldn’t have.
Skydivers often jump with a device called an Automatic Activation Device, which automatically deploys a parachute in an emergency, like a loss of consciousness.
Dupont wasn’t wearing his. He had sent it out to be serviced before jumping in Gatineau, Turetskiy said. “If he had that device it would have saved his life.”
Dupont was an extremely seasoned skydiver and wingsuit pilot. He was in Gatineau to take part in the third-annual Rockstar Boogie, a weekend-long event in which participants can perform unconventional jumps and gather with other skydiving enthusiasts. It was at least the second straight year Dupont had attended the event.
On Monday, his family said the incident had left them shaken.
Dupont’s sister said the family would “need time” to process what happened and was “shook up” by Dupont’s death. The family would not comment further, she said.
Witnesses also suggested that Dupont’s jump was further complicated because he was wearing a new wingsuit on Saturday. It’s not known whether the new wingsuit contributed to the in-air collision.
Wingsuit pilots wear suits with air-filled webbing under their arms and between their feet. A person in a suit can reach speeds of more than 300 km/h and soar farther than seven kilometres before deploying a parachute. The sport was officially recognized by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale governing body at the end of 2014. Two years ago, the Canadian Sport Parachuting Association took it under its administrative purview as an official sport.
Worldwide, there have been at least three other wingsuit deaths this year, including that of 28-yearold Canadian Graham Dickinson, who died in January while training in China.
Dupont had been jumping for the past two years with Turetskiy, primarily out of the Parachute School of Toronto, located in Sutton, Ont. His passion for skydiving took him all over Canada and the U.S.
According to Daniel Sévigny, coowner of Parachute GO Skydive, which hosted the event, Dupont was remembered by his colleagues Saturday evening with a minute of silence, a group hug and a singing of one of his favourite songs.
“We’re all a family,” Sévigny said Sunday, “and it’s a very sad time when we lose one of our own. How do you feel when you lose a family member or loved one? It’s the same thing with us.
“You have to know how to push your limits and push them safely, so you keep improving,” he added. “That’s not just about skydiving; that’s about life.”