Woman dies after possible parachute issues while skydiving in Hendry County

On Saturday, a woman from New Jersey died after reportedly having issues with her parachute while skydiving in Hendry County.

The Hendry County Sheriff’s Office says it responded to the Airglades Airport on Airglades Boulevard for a report of a skydiver who had issues with a parachute. When the deputy arrived on the scene, they found the victim dead within the airport’s grounds.

Hendry County Sheriff’s Office has identified the victim as 65-year-old Susan Sweetman of New Jersey. Deputies say the owner of the skydiving company told them Sweetman had an issue with her parachute before hitting the ground.

Gregg Flowers was on the plane and did the jump with Sweetman. He said he saw her struggle with what skydivers call line twists – just as it sounds, when the lines of the chute get wrapped around each other, preventing the chute from fully deploying.

Flowers explained, usually, skydivers can break out of the line twists and then use a reserve parachute. But Sweetman was already too low and running out of time.

He was above her in the sky and saw her struggling to get the lines open. He said, around 1,00 feet really is the last second to do anything and when he saw her there, that’s when he started praying for her.

“I said, you know, Lord, please protect her and help her because she was below an altitude where she could do anything. And she actually, it’s not an uncommon mistake. She struggled with those lines too long,” Flowers said.

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