Arizona skydivers: How they commemorate lost comrades

Skydivers from around the world have returned to the air at a popular Arizona skydiving location that was the site of a deadly mishap involving two parachutists a day earlier.

Two skydivers were killed Tuesday after they collided during a jump, collapsing their parachutes and sending them plummeting to the ground. The men — one from the United Kingdom and another from Germany — were among about 200 people trying to set world records for group jumps.

Participants met Wednesday and decided getting back in the air was the best way to pay tribute to their friends, many of whom know each other from other skydiving events around the world.

"Of course it makes me a little nervous, but this kind of thing happens. That's the price of skydiving," said Evgenii Dolgopolov, of Moscow, Russia, who witnessed the accident. He planned to jump again Wednesday.

"This kind of thing happens sometimes, but it's very rare," he added.

Witnesses told investigators that both skydivers had open canopies when they ran into each other 200 feet above the ground. The two then fell to the desert floor with a loud thump that could be heard from several hundred yards away. The accident occurred at about 4:50 p.m., said Sgt. Brian Jerome, an Eloy police spokesman.

A third skydiver was injured in an unrelated accident.

Eloy police identified the victims Wednesday as Keiron O'Rourke, 40, of the United Kingdom, who had logged 849 previous jumps; and Bernd Schmehl, 51, of Germany, who also was highly experienced, with 1,707 jumps.

The skydivers are in Arizona for Square One World Sequential Series 2013, a gathering aimed at setting numerous world records for group skydiving with participants from around the world. Registrants paid $2,050 to sign up for the event, sponsored by skydiving equipment dealer Square One. It includes 28 jumps over about a week.

The registration website says organizers were looking to assemble a team of the most talented skydivers and would arrange the exact size of each formation jump based on the number of highly skilled skydivers who applied to participate.

Skydive Arizona, between Phoenix and Tucson, has become one of the nation's top skydiving spots since it opened in the 1980s. The location is ideal because the weather almost always cooperates, providing clear, sunny skies most days of the year. And the vast, uninhabited desert provides plenty of jumping opportunities.

Skydive Arizona bills itself as having the largest aircraft fleet in the world for skydivers with 12 planes, as well as the world's largest drop zone.

Company officials said in a statement there were no problems related to the aircraft or equipment, and the weather was optimal at the time of the deaths, which occurred on the group's fifth jump of the day. They declined to comment further.

Participants in this week's event said the setting sun around the time of Tuesday's jump was bright and might have caused the victims to lose sight of each other. They also noted it's important during group jumps to not get caught up in taking in the scenery.

"The first thing I do is look around," said Martial Ferre, from France. "I don't enjoy the view of this desert of Arizona. I just look for the others, and I look for a safe landing zone."

As he carried around his parachute gear after a group jump Wednesday with about 180 others, Ferre said getting back in the air was the right thing to do after the tragedy.

"We had to increase the morale of everybody," said Ferre, who was close friends with the victims. "The first thing that we did was to ask people, 'Do we want to continue jumping?' Everybody wanted to get back into action to bring this record in memory of these two guys."

According to the United States Parachute Association, there were 19 fatal skydiving accidents in the U.S. in 2012 out of roughly 3.1 million jumps as the industry's safety record continues to improve. In the 1970s, the sport averaged about 42 skydiving deaths per year.

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