Jumps will resume in Goulburn a day after a parachuting instructor was killed and a 14-year-old boy injured in a tandem skydiving accident on Saturday.
The teenager remains in a serious but stable condition at a Sydney children’s hospital.
A freak gust of wind had caused the canopy of the parachute he and his instructor were using to collapse about 20 metres from the ground, after the pair had jumped from a height of between 3,000 and 3,500 metres just before 2pm.
The instructor, Tony Rokov, 44, is believed to have wrapped himself around the boy to protect him as they plunged. The father of two died instantly.
Jumps had been cancelled on Friday because of gales in the southern tablelands area south-west of Sydney.
Adrenaline Skydive’s chief instructor, Yaakov Bokay, told News Corp the tragedy was “a freak thing to happen”.
“The way I saw the landing Tony really twisted his body to protect the young passenger,” he said. “It’s a brave thing to do.
“Everything was perfect and a wind gust – a willy-willy – came up and collapsed the canopy and both dropped to the ground.”
Rokov was an experienced parachuting instructor who had retired from the army in 2013 after more than two decades’ service. A former air operations manager, he had designed parachute training programs and instructed members of the French Foreign Legion.
A Canberra woman, Jessica Wright, told Guardian Australia her husband, Ben, was among those scheduled to jump on Sunday. She said he was nervous and apprehensive, “but knows it was a freak accident and he is in the best hands possible for today”.
Saturday’s fatality is believed to be the first for Goulburn’s skydiving industry. Police are investigating.
