MADERA - A sixty-five year old Madera man fell to his death Saturday afternoon in a horrible skydiving accident in front of thousands of spectators at the Madera Pomegranate Festival. According to witnesses at the scene, the victim was David Gilbert, the owner of the Madera Parachute Center.

He was jumping with his daughter, Sarah Gilbert, a member of the Bulldog Blitz, which has been featured during this Fresno State Football season at Bulldog Stadium. No other jumpers were injured during today's demonstration. However neither the Madera Police Department nor the Madera County Coroners Officer has confirmed the victim's identity as of the posting of this story. Mr. Gilbert was identified as the victim by the Madera County Coroner early Monday morning.

According to Madera Police Sergeant Felix Gonzalez, the man experienced trouble with his primary parachute as the lines became tangled. Attempts were made to untangle the lines which were unsuccessful. When the man attempted to use his backup chute it did not deploy. His primary parachute was found over a quarter mile away in an industrial area on Falcon Drive.

Once Madera Police arrived on scene, a large area of the event's parking lot was taped off with police crime tape in order to secure the area. Several attendees of the Pomegranate Festival were stranded without their cars until law enforcement was finished with their investigation. From the photos taken at the scene by Big Valley News, the victim's impact area was spread over approximately 50 - 75 feet and law enforcement had some difficulty blocking the view of the victim's remains from onlookers.

Detectives and command staff from the Madera Police Department were on scene for the investigation as well as members of the Madera County Sheriff's Department. Madera City Manager David Tooley was also on scene as the city of Madera owns the Madera Airport and oversees its operation. Law enforcement kept the impact area secured until investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration arrived on the scene.

Early Sunday morning the Fresno State Bulldog Blitz jump team offered these words honoring their fallen leaders on their Facebook page, "Our community lost a member of our DropZone family in a tragic accident yesterday. We all know the risk involved with our sport, but don't believe it would ever be one of ours. He was our ground crew, part of our team and family. Hug the ones you love and cherish those special moments, life is precious. This will be a time of grief and mourning for our team, family & community."

Neither the Pomegranate Festival nor the Madera Chamber of Commerce (organizers of the event) have issued a statement about this tragedy or offered any public condolences as to the lost of Mr. Gilbert, who is also a sponsor of this event for the last two years.

According to their website, the Madera Parachute Center has been in operation for 28 years. It's customers jump from a Cessna 182 at an altitude of 10,500ft.  Saturday's flight and jump was apparently normal in all respects except for the problems with the victim's parachute.

We will have more on this story as it becomes available.

Photos from SkyDiveMadera.com & Facebook.com
Photos of scene from Big Valley News & Photo