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Home / New Zealand

Fractured vertebrae for Northland man on skydive landing

Northern Advocate
8 Dec, 2017 04:00 PM5 mins to read

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Ross Borman's leg was skinned after he was dragged 30 metres on the ground after a botched skydive landing. Photo / Supplied

Ross Borman's leg was skinned after he was dragged 30 metres on the ground after a botched skydive landing. Photo / Supplied

Three fractured vertebrae, a severely skinned leg, buttock and knee and five months off work to recover from the horrific injuries suffered in a botched skydiving landing.

That was the injury toll for Whangarei's Ross Borman two weeks out from his wedding to Kerri.

The young father and builder is back on the tools and married but he has been told by investigating authorities that, while they were notified of the tandem jump at Whangarei Airport, they only investigated accidents which were deemed to have a safety learning beneficial to the sector.

They deemed this was not a case they would investigate further.

Mr Borman says that is an unsatisfactory decision by the Civil Aviation Authority and raises serious questions about the regulations around sky diving companies and how accountable they are.

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He said as a builder he had to comply with strict safety measures on a building site and adrenaline sports such as skydiving had an inherent danger attached to them and should be highly regulated.

The drama began on Mr Borman's stag do — a day that should have been a day of celebration with good mates but instead nearly ended in tragedy.

It was in January this year that his friends had organised a full day of activities starting with a surprise tandem skydive with Ballistic Blondes at Whangarei Airport.

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Mr Borman and his friend, who was also jumping, watched a safety video outlining what they were supposed to do in the air and on landing.

"It all seemed very routine as we boarded the plane and took off to the desired altitude."

He was asked to put shoes on which he did, but no overalls that may have prevented the extreme grazing. The operators were happy for him to make the jump wearing a blue dress and wig.

"We jumped out of the plane and free fell until the chute was pulled,'' he said.

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Mr Borman said he noticed they flew very close to the other pair jumping at the same time. His friend landed first and in the same direction - into the wind - as other jumpers had done earlier that morning.

However, Mr Borman said his jump instructor took a different approach, flying quite low across the top of the crowd of friends before turning sharply to go with the wind.

"At that point we seemed to drop very fast. The instructor told me to lift my legs but we came in way too fast and crashed into the ground."

After smashing into the ground Mr Borman was dragged 30 metres, ripping the skin from his body, before the momentum of the chute finally stopped. He was knocked unconscious.

Fortunately the next two people waiting to jump were nurses who rushed to Mr Borman's aid and put him in the recovery position until the ambulance arrived.

"They kept me calm and still apparently - I can't remember much of it."

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Two weeks later Mr Borman, full of painkillers, was married to Kerri. While it was not ideal the couple said their friends and family came together to make sure the day was fantastic.

For weeks Kerri was changing dressings on her husband's legs. It was expensive with $100 being spent on dressings and ointments.

Mr Borman said it was his doctor who notified the Civil Aviation Authority about the incident. Mr Borman said his injuries were significant and his case deserved to be investigated.

Mr Borman had contact with the owners of Ballistic Blondes two days after he was injured.

"I received a phone call from the owner saying they did everything right on the day and asked if there was anything they could do to help. Not being able to do my job, I asked for a little help with recovery costs, but no was the answer and that was the last i heard from them."

Ballistic Blondes went into liquidation in September and liquidator Garry Whimphoped the business and assets would be sold to a new operator. Attempts by the Northern Advocate to contact the previous owners of Ballistic Blondes have been unsuccessful, including another attempt yesterday.

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CAA Manager of Communications and Safety Promotion Mike Richards said the authority did not investigate every accident or incident that occurred in the aviation sector.

The CAA would only investigate accidents which were deemed to have a safety learning beneficial to the sector.

There were many issues considered when launching a safety investigation, including the amount and completeness of information provided in an accident report and whether the probable cause was clear from the reported information, as was the case with Mr Borman.

"Unless new information comes to light, the authority will not open an investigation into the incident that injured Mr Borman, on the basis that probable cause is clear," Mr Richards said.

Mr Borman said both sides of the story needed to be assessed before the probable cause of the accident was decided and he had not been interviewed.

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