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Trouble in the Sky: Third Skydiving Accident With Skydive Hastings

Posted at 8:29 PM, Nov 03, 2013
and last updated 2013-11-04 06:16:01-05

HASTINGS, Mich.- They’ve only been operating for six months yet Sunday, another skydiving accident at Hastings airport.  It’s the third from Skydive Hastings since August.

Early Sunday afternoon a skydiver lost control of their parachute, landing in a tree near Hastings Airport.

Police tell us they had to get a cherry picker to get the person down out of the trees, but the skydiver is expected to be ok.

In August, Russell Webb was left in a coma after he says there was a parachute issue during his jump with Skydive Hastings.

Then, in September, another skydiving accident with the same skydiving company as a woman hits a tree.

Fox 17 spoke with the owner of Skydive Hastings, Tony Gwinn, after that second accident in September.

He said there was absolutely no negligence by his company in either of the first two accidents.

Gwinn says his training is thorough and up to United States Parachute Association standards.

“It’s about a four-hour class four to five hours by the time you`re done with it,” he told us in September.

Russell Webb was in the August accident.  He says he went through all the training and received 100 percent on the written test, yet he still ended up in a coma.

Gwinn called Webb’s fall a freak accident.  After September’s accident Gwinn said you’ll find just as many accidents at any skydiving establishment.

Michigan State Police is investigating this incident.  We reached out to Skydive Hastings about Sunday’s accident, they declined to comment.