Free Fall Festival ends in tragedy

Staff Writer

A freak skydiving accident Saturday resulted in the death of a Louisiana man and the serious injury of a female skydive companion at the Thomaston-Upson Airport.

The incident occurred during the fifth annual Atlanta Free Flight Festival, a two-day skydive gathering which involved more than 150 sky divers from all over the southeast. The gathering was hosted by Skydive Atlanta, a company based at the Thomaston-Upson Airport, offering training and jump opportunities for a fee.

Skydive Atlanta Owner Trey Holladay said the 3 p.m. accident occurred when two skydivers were on approach to land. He said their parachutes got entangled between 50 and 100 feet from the ground. Holladay said the two were able to untangle themselves at between 30 and 50 feet, but their parachutes collapsed and they both fell.

According to reports, the man, Jason Marler, 30, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was taken on life support to Upson Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The woman, meanwhile, was flown to Macon Medical Center.

Coroner Tim Cochran said Marler died of blunt force trauma to the chest. He did not know the name of Marler's girlfriend, but said he understands she suffered "serious injuries to the pelvis and lower lumbar spine."

The name of the woman was not available at press time. Maj. Dan Kilgore with the Upson County Sheriff's Department was not dispatched and did not respond to the incident and emergency medical technicians said today they could not legally release the woman's name.

"I'm not too happy about it, but we apparently were not there" Kilgore said. "The EMS and the first responders were the only ones dispatched."

Holladay said this weekend's event was one of the largest skydiving gatherings held at the local airport. Skydiving resumed about 30 minutes after the accident and continued through the afternoon Saturday and all day Sunday.

"This sort of case is as close to a real accident as you can come," Holladay said. "It was tough to avoid and really, unclear what occurred."

Airport Manager Mitch Ellerbee called the accident "unfortunate and unavoidable."

"We did everything we could do and Sky Dive Atlanta was totally not at fault," Ellerbee said. "There were little winds. There were blue skies. There was perfect weather. As far as I know, they were both certified skydivers."

The skydivers involved were among 15 people who jumped from a twin turboprop Shorts SkyVan at 13,500 feet, Holladay said, adding about 50 people on the ground witnessed the collision and fall.

The group was in free fall from between 40 and 60 seconds, Holladay said, and was airborne three to five minutes after parachutes open. They were on approach to land when the entanglement occurred.

"They were all coming in, preparing to land, when one person did a hook turn onto the other person. The shoots collapsed, and they both fell," an airport employee who witnessed the crash said.