Stepping out on the last day of the month for a skydiving expedition is what Gardner and his friend had in mind when they walked out on 31st January. It all changed within a few seconds after 73-year-old skydiver, Terry Gardner lost his life because of an unfortunate malfunction.

As Gardner jumped down from what was his third jump of the day, his parachute malfunctioned during deployment. That cost him his life, just one month after celebrating the dawn of a new year. The death has sent shockwaves in the Arizona skydiving community.

Skydiver loses his life to parachute malfunction

Hailing from Casa Grande, the 73-year-old skydiver ventured out with his friends for a fun adventure. An experienced skydiver, with over a thousand completed jumps, Terry and his friends had plans of jumping down in a formation. They failed to make the formation, but his other friends faced no issues whatsoever in their descent.

However, Terry’s luck ran out as his primary parachute failed to deploy in the air. People present at the skydiving facility ‘Skydive Arizona’ stated that he deployed the parachute on time, but as fate would have it, the parachute betrayed him.

Skydive Arizona released a statement through their spokesperson, Ian Mackenzie, who described Terry as a vastly experienced skydiver. It said, “Eyewitnesses report that the free fall portion of the skydive was uneventful and went as planned,” Mackenzie said. “The jumper deployed their parachute at the predetermined altitude, but witnesses could see that there was a problem involving the main (primary) parachute. The jumper did not deploy the reserve (second) parachute. The skydiver was jumping with parachute gear owned and maintained by the jumper and the weather conditions were clear and calm.”

Fire fighters present at the facility provided him with medical aid after the brutal landing. They transferred him to the Casa Grande Banner Hospital, where he succumbed to the injuries.

The facility has assured completion cooperation in the investigations to happen.

The number of accidents continue to rise

With over a thousand jumps as a skydiver, Terry definitely wouldn’t have thought this would ever happen to him. How the parachute malfunctioned is a mystery that the Federal Aviation Administration will now look into.

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It seems like the citizens of Eloy city cannot escape death and disaster. Just two weeks ago, a devastating hot-air balloon crash in the Arizona desert claimed the lives of four people. A group of thirteen people were onboard the hot-air balloon, but managed to escape before the fatal crash took place.

They admitted the last person remaining from the incident to the hospital, who now sits with life impairing injuries.

The city of Eloy has experienced two very fatal accidents in just two weeks. Terry’s family will be hopeful that people practice caution when venturing out for such activities and eagerly wait on the FAA’s investigation report.

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