Parachute Jump Kills One...

Jim Keeney

Veteran sky diver Geoff Sean Crossman and videographer Jason Yasuda had jumped together as a team more than 100 times.

But something went badly wrong on their jump Saturday afternoon (accident happened several weeks ago) at the Richmond Municipal Airport, Richmond (IN).

Falling at 120 mph about 20 feet apart, the two friends collided at 6,000 feet when Crossman's parachute opened, likely killing Crossman instantly, said Steve Stewart, a staff member of Skydive Wayne County Inc., the company that operates the skydiving center at the airport.

"They body-slammed," Stewart said. "When you're falling at 120 mph and someone gets jerked by the parachute in the wrong direction...." He didn't finish the sentence.

Crossman, 37, of Lebanon, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Yasuda, a 30-year-old Hyde Park resident and full-time sky diving instructor who was filming the jump, suffered a fractured pelvis and is listed in serious condition in the intensive care unit at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton. Yasuda was able to open his parachute at 3,000 feet after the collision.

Crossman was jumping in tandem with a student, Casey Bischof, 21, of Pickering, Ohio. They descended into a cornfield east of Stateline Road. Yasuda landed in a field on Druley Road, west of Stateline Road.

Bischof sustained cuts, but wasn't seriously injured, Stewart said. When Crossman failed to respond to him after they landed, Bischof walked to a farmhouse and called for help.

Stewart said Bischof didn't know what had happened and wanted to know what he did wrong.

"The poor guy didn't do anything wrong," Stewart said.

The three men were jumping with a larger group as part of a Fourth of July weekend celebration.

The Preble County, Ohio Sheriff's Department and the Wayne County, Ind., Sheriff's Department are investigating.

Crossman, who leaves a wife and two children, had jumped more than 2,300 times, Stewart said.

The jumpmaster, a chemical engineer by profession, had worked on a part-time basis for Skydive Wayne County for 19 years.

"Sean was a nice man, very accomplished," Stewart said. "Sky diving was his passion."

 Jim Keeney is United States Parachute Association Instructor/Examiner: