Skydiving death reported at center with history of fatalities, violations

A skydiver died Sunday at the Lodi Parachute Center.

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The woman, whose name has not been released, was a skilled skydiver with decades of experience who died after her parachute failed to deploy, KTXL reported.

She was using her own equipment, Ian Gregor, a spokesman with the Federal Aviation Administration, which is investigating the accident, told the San Diego Union-Tribune.

This is not the first death at the skydiving facility.

Since the center opened in the 1980s, 19 people have died, KTXL reported. Fifteen people died skydiving from planes at Lodi Parachute Center from 1999 to 2017, KCRA reported.

Twenty instructors at the center were suspended and another 120 needed more training after a United States Parachute Association investigation in September 2016, KCRA reported.

The FBI executed a search warrant at the center earlier this year. Information about that investigation has not been released, KCRA reported.

Bill Dause, the center's manager, told KTXL agents took hours of skydiving video as well as credit card transaction information.

Dause told the San Diego Union-Tribune he would provide more information about the incident Monday.

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