Skydiving Fatality Near Ottawa Not Linked To World Record Chase

OTTAWA, IL — One person was killed during a skydiving accident on Saturday that organizers of an attempt at a world record said was not associated with the effort.

The LaSalle County Sheriff’s Office has not released the name of the person who was killed, pending notification of the family. The accident took place at 12:23 p.m. on Saturday, and the skydiver was found dead in a cornfield near Skydive Chicago, police said in a social media post.

Officials from the LaSalle County Coroner’s Office and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the incident and are not releasing any further information, police said.

Last week and over the weekend, Skydive Chicago, which has been the site of several previous skydiving fatalities, was attempting to set a new world record to create the largest “vertical” skydive. In order to do so, organizers said that 200 skydivers needed to dive head-first with their arms and legs locked together to achieve the record.

The previous record was set in 2012 in the Chicago area with 164 divers. The spokesperson for last week's attempt at the new world record confirmed to Patch that the fatality was not part of the world record attempt.

The spokeswoman directed all other questions to Skydive Chicago owner Rook Nelson, who, in an email to Patch on Monday, provided the following statement:

"It is with deep sadness to announce there was an incident with an experienced skydiver on August 27, 2022. The incident was not during the World Record Attempts nor was the skydiver a part of the World Record Attempts that were being completed the prior week," the statement said. "That being said, to respect the privacy of the family we are not releasing a name at this time. We are working with the appropriate authorities during their investigation. We have no further information at this time."

In 2002, the Chicago Tribune reported that six people had died at SkyDive Chicago in the previous 12 months, which was eight times higher than the national average. At the time, the Tribune reported that since 1993, 13 skydiving deaths had taken place at the facility.

Since then, Patch has reported on several other deaths related to the facility, including a 32-year-old Elgin woman killed in 2013, a 48-year-old man killed in 2016 and a 65-year-old Berwyn man who died in 2015.

A spokesperson for the FAA told Patch in an email Monday that the agency does not track skydiving fatalities by company. He added that when a skydiving accident involves someone jumping alone, the FAA’s investigations generally focus on determining whether the main and reserve parachutes were properly packed by the appropriate person.