A skydiver was killed and another was injured when they collided in midair during a team jump in Washington state, officials said.
Experienced parachutists Randy Hubbs and Nicole Klein were part of an 11-person jump on Sunday in Ritzville, 60 miles southwest of Spokane, the Adams County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Tuesday.
“At approximately 1,000 feet above the ground, and with neither jumper aware of the other’s position, the two parachutes came into contact,” West Plains Skydiving said in a news release reported by NBC affiliate KHQ of Spokane.
The impact left Hubbs, a real estate broker, “incapacitated” and “no longer in control of his parachute canopy,” the sheriff’s office said. Skydiving staff members saw him 500 feet up, unresponsive, with his head and arms down, drifting north away from the drop zone, it added.
Hubbs was found dead at the scene, and Klein suffered “injuries requiring additional treatment at a medical facility,” it said in a previous statement.
“The Skydive West Plains community is mourning the loss of a friend who has been part of the drop zone family for nearly a decade,” the company said. “The team’s thoughts are also with the second jumper and her family as she recovers.”
Before the incident Sunday, Hubbs had completed more than 800 jumps and Klein more than 900, West Plains Skydiving said, according to KHQ. Weather was not a contributing factor, authorities said. They said the investigation continues.
On social media, friends paid tribute to Hubbs.
“I’m heartbroken,” a person named Sam Ormson wrote in a public post. “But every now and then I have to shake my head, sigh, and smile, because somehow a skydiving exit feels exactly like Randy. I miss you my friend.”
