U.S. Navy Sailor dies in routine parachute training out of Porterville Airport

PORTERVILLE, Calif. (KFSN) -- A U.S. Navy Sailor died successful a parachute grooming ngo retired of the Porterville airdrome successful Tulare County past Thursday.

Their individuality has yet to beryllium released arsenic authorities notify their family.

"It's gut-wrenching, it hurts," says Luis Avila, a Porterville resident.

Avila works astatine a concern astatine the Porterville airport. He was going astir his Tuesday erstwhile helium noticed thing unusual successful the sky.

"I looked up, I saw immoderate parachuters and I saw what looked to beryllium conscionable a chute that wasn't deployed, conscionable flapping. I conscionable followed it each the mode down and saw it vanish into the skyline retired there," says Avila.

A regular subject grooming formation had turned deadly earlier his eyes. Luis says helium didn't recognize what had happened until archetypal responders arrived.

"It's stunning. It's a punch successful the gut due to the fact that for the past 2 years, they've been retired present grooming and we spot them astir each day," says Avila.

Action News has learned the formation was portion of a subject parachute grooming radical based retired of the Porterville Airport.

The sailor, not yet been identified, was assigned to an East Coast-based Naval Special Warfare command.

The calamity has near witnesses filled with emotion.

For Luis, a seasoned himself, having served successful the US Air Force, these hits adjacent to home.

"Doesn't substance what branch, conscionable knowing that it was a work member, it's conscionable sad," says Avila.

According to their website, the subject grooming radical is registered to the U.S. Parachute Association and claims to beryllium cleared by the U.S. Special Operations Command for Military Parachuting.

It has a 174-acre landing abstraction and says they instrumentality information precautions similar lone hosting 1 subject portion astatine a time.

The radical is simply a staple successful Porterville.

"We could ever archer erstwhile each the cars were parked connected the street. When we spot it, we say, 'Oh, good. The parachute guys are here," says Jo Rees, who works astatine Porterville Airport.

They leap astatine events similar Veterans Day, Flag Day and Freedom Fest conscionable days ago.

"These are large young men, and they're trying their champion to go fantastic subject men," says Rees.

The incidental has brought galore together, including instrumentality enforcement and veterans.

"We're a tiny community, we consciousness it," says Reese.

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