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Skydive Lost Prairie Enduring
Still Diving After Crash
Solo and tandem jump master Tom Startz checks Jeff Valimont's free-fall form during a skydiving class at Lost Prarie Skydive. - Lido Vizzutti/Flathead Beacon
Between July 28 and Aug. 6 up to 800 people will drop out of the sky west of Kalispell. Their presence alone will speak volumes – two months after a plane wreck killed five people, Skydive Lost Prairie is enduring admirably.
Fred Sand, the popular skydiving center’s owner, said the 40th annual Skydive Lost Prairie Jump Meet could host a record turnout, despite the widely circulated publicity that followed May 12’s tragedy. The crash had nothing to do with skydiving, only aviation.
“Maybe there were some people,” Sand said. “Even though it was purely an aviation accident, they didn’t want to skydive.”
Head skydiving instructor Tom Startz said he hasn’t seen any concern from students. Anybody who skydives knows there is an element of risk, he said, with or without a recent crash looming in their minds.
“Things can happen,” he said. “It’s not unsafe if you don’t make it that way.”
Startz explained that it’s vital to keep students interested.
“Without students,” he said. “There wouldn’t be skydiving.”
Of the five people who died in the crash, two were Lost Prairie skydiving instructors. Startz heard of the tragedy soon after it happened and knew the center needed an instructor. Skydiving instructors form a small, tight-knit community, he said.
“When I heard about it,” he said. “I felt like I had lost a brother in the sport. There’s too few of us in this sport to not be family.”
So he came to Montana and within an hour of arriving at Lost Prairie, he was head instructor. He already had tentative plans to come to Montana, he said, and the instructor opportunity was icing on the cake.
“I wanted to be here for the 40th (meet),” he said.
Sand and Startz agree that the annual jump is the biggest in the Northwest and one of the largest in the nation. Experienced jumpers pay a $20 registration fee and beginners can jump tandem for $199. Up to three airplanes and 60 formation skydivers will be in the air at the same time during the event.
Skydive Lost Prairie will continue to attract both first-timers and experienced jumpers, Startz said, because it is such a well-run operation.
“Fred does it the right way,” he said.
The Jump Meet is “sort of a reunion,” Sand said. People come from all over the country and Europe to gather and carry on the spirit of skydiving, not to compete.
“There’s no real competition to it,” Sand said.
John Dobleman of San Francisco will be coming to his 16th Skydive Lost Prairie Jump Meet. He choreographs and organizes formation jumps at the event. He said he’s been to other large jump meets, but they don’t compare to Lost Prairie’s.
“It’s just gorgeous,” he said. “After the first year at Lost Prairie, I said, ‘I’m coming here for life.’”
He said this year’s meet is special for reasons other than its 40th anniversary.
“We’ll have some toasts to our friends who left us,” he said.
Fred Sand, the popular skydiving center’s owner, said the 40th annual Skydive Lost Prairie Jump Meet could host a record turnout, despite the widely circulated publicity that followed May 12’s tragedy. The crash had nothing to do with skydiving, only aviation.
“Maybe there were some people,” Sand said. “Even though it was purely an aviation accident, they didn’t want to skydive.”
Head skydiving instructor Tom Startz said he hasn’t seen any concern from students. Anybody who skydives knows there is an element of risk, he said, with or without a recent crash looming in their minds.
Startz explained that it’s vital to keep students interested.
“Without students,” he said. “There wouldn’t be skydiving.”
Of the five people who died in the crash, two were Lost Prairie skydiving instructors. Startz heard of the tragedy soon after it happened and knew the center needed an instructor. Skydiving instructors form a small, tight-knit community, he said.
“When I heard about it,” he said. “I felt like I had lost a brother in the sport. There’s too few of us in this sport to not be family.”
So he came to Montana and within an hour of arriving at Lost Prairie, he was head instructor. He already had tentative plans to come to Montana, he said, and the instructor opportunity was icing on the cake.
“I wanted to be here for the 40th (meet),” he said.
Sand and Startz agree that the annual jump is the biggest in the Northwest and one of the largest in the nation. Experienced jumpers pay a $20 registration fee and beginners can jump tandem for $199. Up to three airplanes and 60 formation skydivers will be in the air at the same time during the event.
Skydive Lost Prairie will continue to attract both first-timers and experienced jumpers, Startz said, because it is such a well-run operation.
“Fred does it the right way,” he said.
The Jump Meet is “sort of a reunion,” Sand said. People come from all over the country and Europe to gather and carry on the spirit of skydiving, not to compete.
“There’s no real competition to it,” Sand said.
John Dobleman of San Francisco will be coming to his 16th Skydive Lost Prairie Jump Meet. He choreographs and organizes formation jumps at the event. He said he’s been to other large jump meets, but they don’t compare to Lost Prairie’s.
“It’s just gorgeous,” he said. “After the first year at Lost Prairie, I said, ‘I’m coming here for life.’”
He said this year’s meet is special for reasons other than its 40th anniversary.
“We’ll have some toasts to our friends who left us,” he said.
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