If $40 million penalty doesn’t close Lodi’s deadly skydiving center, the FAA must act

Will a $40 million legal judgment finally shut down the Skydive Lodi Parachute Center, where 21 people have died since 1981?

Last Wednesday, a judge signed off on the massive financial penalty against Bill Dause, who owns the notorious skydiving facility near Highway 99 in Acampo. The family of 18-year-old Tyler Turner of Los Banos died in 2016 after his parachute failed to open during a dive at Dause’s business.

“Turner and the skydiving instructor he was jumping in tandem with died on Aug. 6, 2016, near the skydiving center,” according to the Associated Press. “Investigators said he plummeted 13,000 feet (3,900 meters) to the ground when the instructor, who was attached to Tyler by a harness, could not get their parachutes open.”

“He [the instructor] was still under a probationary period when they did the jump,” Paul Van Der Walde, the family’s attorney, told the Los Angeles Times. “And he did not have the appropriate emergency training.”

The attorney said the family hopes the massive financial penalty will finally put Dause out of business or force him to sell to “a responsible owner who can operate it safely.”

In 2019, after a 28-year-old woman hit a tractor-trailer on Highway 99 while skydiving at Dause’s facility, The Sacramento Bee Editorial Board called on the Federal Aviation Administration to shutter the troubled business due to “a horrific pattern of death.” The editorial detailed the tragic history of deaths at the business.

“Nearly a year ago, a woman died after her chute failed to deploy. In 2017, a 42-year-old man also died after his parachute failed to open,” according to a Bee story from 2019.

Despite the long record of tragedies at his business, however, Dause has displayed a callous attitude, blaming the victims and shrugging off criticism.

“The parachute was fine,” said Dause, absolving himself of all blame after 28-year-old Maria Robledo Vallejo died in 2019. “There was nothing wrong with the parachute. Her indiscretion was the factor that led to the incident.”

“He showed no compassion whatsoever,” Francine Turner, Tyler Turner’s mother, said of her experience with Dause. “It was just horrible.”

As the death toll has mounted at the Skydive Lodi Parachute Center over the years, multiple federal agencies have raided the business. Dause “laughs off” this disturbing fact, according to a 2019 report by Fox 40.

Hopefully, the $40 million judgment against him will wipe the smile off of Dause’s face and put him out of the skydiving business for good. If not, it’s long past time for the FAA to step in and shut down this dangerous skydiving operation as it has done in other states.