Partially-deployed parachutes cause skydivers to land off course in Palatka

It was a scary moment for some skydivers today who were training with Skydive Palatka this morning.

The owner of the company says a military group from Canada was practicing free falls.

“All of them are active military guys doing a currency jumps and staying current so when they have an operation that involved skydive skills they’re in tune to what they need,” said owner Art Schaffer.

But the strong winds blew them off course, sending one onto the roadway near a Home Depot and the other to a football field.

The skydiver who landed on the road was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The other skydiver was not hurt.

“The winds turned out to be a little bit stronger that what were predicted,” said Schaffer.

The team jumped from 13,000 feet… and  according to Action News Jax First Alert Chief Meteorologist Mike Buresh, winds at the time  of the jump were near 60 miles per hour.

That’s 5 to 6 times stronger that the wind on the ground.

Schaffer held a briefing after the jump to talk about what could be done better in the future.