Marty Gordon
NRVsports@mainstreetnewspapers.com
BLACKSBURG – Saturday’s spring football game at Virginia Tech did not start like most in attendance probably had expected.
Retired U.S. Army Master Sergeant Pasha Palanker of the Team Fastrax jump squad collided with the scoreboard during a pregame skydive at Virginia Tech’s spring football game in windy conditions.
He hung suspended for more than 20 minutes before being rescued by the Blacksburg Volunteer Fire Department, delaying the game by about an hour. Palanker was evaluated on-site and released without serious injuries.
A second jumper from Team Fastrax overshot the field and landed on a practice field adjacent to the stadium. The third jumper landed safely on the turf of Lane Stadium.
Palanker, who has over 700 jumps, is a retired Army Master Sargeant with 17 years of service, and a two-time Purple Heart recipient. He was also awarded a Bronze Star with Valor in preventing a suicide bomber attack.
Team Fastrax is the most ambitious professional parachute demonstration team in the world. The team roster has more than 40 active members, with a culmination of more than 175,000 skydives.
A Team Fastrax demonstration skydive event team like the one Saturday at Lane Stadium typically consists of a member exiting an aircraft over a large crowd such as an airshow or major sports event. The member then descends to a precise landing, thrilling the spectators.
Wind is one of the most critical factors in stadium parachute jumps because the stadium’s architecture creates unpredictable and dangerous air currents. Unlike jumping into an open field, a stadium acts as a massive obstacle that disrupts smooth airflow, leading to two primary issues—turbulence and funneling.
Officials with the National Weather Service in the Blacksburg office had been monitoring the wind and were in contact with the jump team.
The United States Parachute Association says because stadium jumps are what is called “Level 2” or high-performance demonstrations, they have strict safety protocols.
Those recommendations typically are a ground-wind max of 15 miles per hour for any demonstration. Jumpers must measure the wind at the top of the stadium, not just at the field level, to account for the turbulence they hit during their descent.
