Tandem jump in Orange fatal to woman
by Hawes Spencer
published 12:28pm Wednesday Nov 5, 2008
published 12:28pm Wednesday Nov 5, 2008
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The Orange County Airport experienced its second fatal skydiving accident this year. Forty-year-old Lynchburg resident and mother of two daughters April Haag died Sunday, a day after a “hard landing” that injured her tandem jump partner, a licensed parachutist from Virginia Beach, according to the Culpeper Star-Exponent. Tandem jumps typically pair a novice with an instructor and involve a free-fall before the instructor deploys a single large chute.
Why does anyone want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane? Are they totally nuts or what?
I feel sorry for her children though. I know what it feels like to lose someone you love.
Man, this is the second person I have heard of that died in a skydiving accident in like the last two months. I never heard about anyone dying from this, and now it’s two. That’s sad!
Ahh, come on Smart Girl! Why jump out of perfectly good plane? It’s just another sport with inherent dangers. Just like the advanced ski trails at Wintergreen. Give me the choice between the two and I would have to jump out of a perfectly good plane too.
I have sympathy for the family as well. But they will always know she passed away doing something she wanted to enjoy.
what a shame. This only re-enforces my paranoia of sky diving. Well at least i know where not to go if I ever change my mind!
I attended the chapel service and funeral for April. Every seat at Heritage Baptist Church was filled, and many people had to stand in the back. It was the most remarkable funeral my family and I had ever attended. There was more love and sadness in that one place than we had ever felt before. Probably everyone in that Church could have gone on the platform and eulogized April for her constant loving, unselfish and giving ways. Her smile and outgoing personality was so contagious that even if you felt bad, before she left, she had you smiling and laughing. The skydiving accident should never have happened (it was her first time up), but I have to believe that our tears of sorrow will turn to joy knowing that we’ll see April one day in heaven. On earth she was God’s angel, as well as His angel in heaven now.
I had the great privelege of knowing April for over 14 years and shared the same church home for quite a few years. She was a person that always had that contagious smile and geniune concern for others. April was not only a person that talked the talk, but she walked the walk with the Lord each and every day. If she said that she would pray for you or your loved ones you could rest assured that she did indeed lift your need up in her daily prayer life. She was one of the greatest example of the Christain life that I have ever known. April touched many lives during her short 40 years on this earth but what a impact that she had on all of those around her. I know that she is with her heavenly father and rejoicing being in his presence. April like all of us had difficult times in her life but I never saw her wavier from her faith and trust in God. She was such a devoted mother and taught her girls that God must come first in their lives. She loved them so very much and left them a solid foundation (God) to lean on throughout their lives. She also had a devoted and loving husband that shared the same faith as she did and had given her so much happiness in their short 4 years together. The entire family is in my prayers and I know that we as born again Christains will see her again. Her funeral was a celebration of her life and homegoing and it was exactly what she would have wanted. I will forever be grateful for the encouragement,faith, and love that she shared with me and all of those whom she came in contact with. I have thought about alot of things these last couple of weeks and I pray that when God removes me from this earth that I will leave the impact that April had on others.