FAA investigating skydiver’s death at Middletown airport

Mason man ddin’t deploy parachute early enough.

— The Federal MIDDLETOWN Aviation Administration continued its investigation Monday after a Mason man died while skydiving Sunday from Middletown Regional Airport/ Hook Field.

The Butler County Coroner’s Office identified the skydiver as Jeffrey Rives, 47, of Mason.

Rives died from injuries he sustained during the accident and the cause of his death is listed as pending, according to the coroner’s office.

The incident remains “an open investigation,” said Elizabeth Cory, FAA spokeswoman at the Great Lakes office in Chicago.

Areas being investigated include: the packing of the main parachute; the packing of the reserve parachute; if rules of flight were followed; if the pilot was properly licensed; and if the plane was properly licensed and maintained, according to Cory.

“The investigation could take several weeks to several months, which is standard,” she said.

No other information was available Monday from the FAA.

There have been three previous aviation-related fatalities since 1994 at Middletown Regional Airport/Hook Field, according to the National Transportation Safety Board’s accident database.

■ On July 18, 1994, one person was killed after an ultralight crashed into an experimental home-built gyroplane.

■ On Sept. 20, 2014, two people were killed when an experimental amateur-built aircraft crashed near the airport. Both held FAA private pilot certificates.

■ On June 1, 2014, an employee of Start Skydiving was struck by a propeller as she walked toward the cockpit as the aircraft was standing with engines operating on the ramp. The aircraft was waiting for passengers to board at the time of the accident.

John Hart II, co-owner of the skydiving company Drop Zone, said Rives had completed 95 previous skydiving jumps and died on impact after failing to deploy his parachute at approximately 11 a.m. Sunday.

Hart said Rives deployed his chute under the recommended altitude limit of 3,500 feet.

“This wasn’t because of a problem. Maybe he lost altitude awareness. He did use his reserve chute but it deployed too late,” Hart told this news outlet Sunday.

“It’s unfortunate but it was completely avoidable,” he said.

In 2014, 24 people were killed in skydiving accidents out of 3.2 million airplane jumps in the United States. That’s a death likelihood of about eight in 1 million jumps, according to the latest data from the U.S. Parachute Association.

The rate of people dying in skydiving accidents has declined steady since the 1970s, according to the association. The average number of yearly fatalities during the 1970s was 42, compared to 26 during the 2000s and 22 since 2010.

During the past five years, the annual average continues its decline to 22.6, the association reported.