Tragic Skydiving Accident Claims Life of Colorado Man Near Vance Brand Airport

A tragic incident unfolded near Vance Brand Airport, located in Longmont, approximately 40 miles northwest of Denver, as a skydiver lost his life under unknown circumstances. The 36-year-old Colorado man tragically passed away shortly before 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. The victim was engaged in a skydiving session with Mile High Skydiving and was wearing a wingsuit. Sadly, neither his primary nor his reserve chute deployed before he made contact with the ground.

The identity of the deceased individual will be disclosed by the Boulder County Coroner’s Office. Presently, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is collaborating with the coroner’s office and the Longmont Police Department to investigate this unfortunate event. The FAA’s involvement focuses on examining the packing of the parachutes and the adherence to flight regulations by both the pilot and the aircraft involved.

Efforts to obtain comments from the airport and Mile High Skydiving have been made by CBS News Colorado; however, responses have not yet been received as of Sunday.

Vance Brand Airport has garnered attention in recent years due to the number of skydiving fatalities associated with it. This year alone, a skydiving accident claimed a fatality, marking at least the third such incident since 2018.

The FAA points out that skydiving incidents result in 30 to 40 deaths annually in the United States, which it considers an extraordinarily high rate of nearly two fatalities per 1,000 skydives.

Established in 1945, Vance Brand Airport was named after Vance Brand, a pilot and NASA astronaut hailing from Longmont. The airport houses 219 aircraft and had an average of 242 flight operations per day in 2019, according to FAA records.