--- title: "A Skydiving Center’s Clients Kept Mysteriously Dying. Now, One of Its Instructors Is Going to Jail." description: "A skydiving center in California has seen a shocking 28 deaths since opening its doors in 1985. Now, one of its instructors is going to jail." date: "2024-10-03" modified: "2024-10-03" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/skydiving-center-dying-instructor" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "california" - "skydiving" - "the digest" --- # A Skydiving Center’s Clients Kept Mysteriously Dying. Now, One of Its Instructors Is Going to Jail. ![]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Death Dive A skydiving center in San Joaquin County, California, has seen a shocking 28 deaths since opening its doors in 1985. And now, as [*SFGate* reports](), an instructor at the school, who has been accused of fraudulently training new instructors, has been sentenced to two years in prison. In May, instructor Robert Pooley was found guilty of running unauthorized tandem skydiving courses at the Lodi Parachute Center, training more than 100 instructors by falsifying a digital signature of a different instructor. According to an [official statement]() by the US Attorney's Office of the Eastern District of California, Pooley "falsely told students that he was a tandem examiner." ## Off License In 2016, 18-year-old high school graduate Tyler Turner and his tandem instructor [died after plummeting to their death]() in a nearby vineyard. The deceased instructor was trained by Pooley, who had his instructor certification suspended in 2015. "In 2016, Pooley accepted numerous students in this manner from around the world, including the Republic of Korea, Chile, and Mexico," the Attorney's Office statement reads. "Each student paid approximately $1,100 for these courses." Many of Pooley's victims "asked for their money back, but he did not repay them," the statement reads. Earlier this year, [*SFGate* reported]() that the Lodi Parachute Center had experienced a baffling 28 fatalities linked to accidents at the center between 1985 and 2021. But how bad the situation really is is almost impossible to tell. According to a [2008 report]() by the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Administration "does not have data on the number of parachute jump operators or the number and type of aircraft used in parachute jump operations in the US." "The absence of these data precludes any calculations of safety statistics for parachute jump operations, including accident rates," the report reads. As the *SFGate* points out, there are no particular licenses required for skydiving pilots, and there are only a handful of training requirements. A private lobbying group called the US Parachute Association takes care of certification on behalf of the FAA. In short, it's unclear just how bad the situation got at the Lodi Parachute Center — but Pooley's recent sentencing will likely be a black mark in the history of the sport. "They were not properly trained," Turner's mother [told *Inside Edition*]() in May. "Skipping the training part is what took my son’s life, and they’re responsible for that." **More on skydiving:** *[104-Year-Old Dies Days After Skydiving From Airplane]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()