A skydiving teacher and her student died in Southern California when “dust devils” got in the way of their tandem dive. On August 2, Devrey LaRiccia Chase, 28, and an unknown student who was attached to her during the tandem jump opened the parachute during their dive at Skydive Perris in Riverside County. Two small whirlwinds were then seen.
“As they got ready to land, the tandem pair ran into a dust devil, which is rough air. “The sudden disturbance in the air caused turbulence, which led to a hard landing for both people,” Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld, manager of Skydive Perris, told SFGATE by email. “Both people were rushed to hospitals in the area with injuries that could kill them.” Sadly, both the teacher and the student have died since then from their injuries.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office told SFGATE that around 2:30 p.m. on Friday, officers were sent to Skydive Perris on Goetz Road. “When deputies got there, they found two severely injured people. They were both taken to a nearby hospital,” a sheriff’s office spokesperson said. “This was not a case of foul play.” The FAA was told about it and is now in charge of the probe.
A man named Freddy Chase, who is married to Devrey, told KTLA that the tragedy happened because of two dust devils. He said, “She missed the first one, but when she moved around it, she hit the second one.” “She was about 25 to 30 feet in the air at that point…” It caused her canopy to spin down.
Over 400,000 people follow Freddy Chase on Instagram, where he often posts pictures of his risky skydives. He told KTLA that his wife also filmed him and wrote a nice post about her on social media.
“Having to say goodbye to you for now will forever be the hardest thing I will ever do in my life,” Chase said.
10 people died in 3.65 million skydives by U.S. members of the United States Parachute Association in 2023, which was the most recent year for which crash data was shared.
In recent years, skydiving in California has gotten more attention after it was found that 28 people have died at the Lodi Skydiving Center in San Joaquin County since 1985.
“Devrey LaRiccia lived her life to the fullest and inspired everyone she worked with.” Brodsky-Chenfeld said, “She was very interested in getting other people interested in skydiving.” “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of both Devrey and the student.”