S. Tahoe skydiver dies landing in Lake Tahoe, 2 survive
Updated: May 22, 2012, 3:25pm
By Kathryn Reed
CAMP RICHARDSON — One skydiver is dead and two others survived their jump near Camp Richardson on Tuesday morning.
Robert Ranieri, 29, of South Lake Tahoe was found in 12 to 15 feet of water by El Dorado County sheriff’s divers.
Lt. Pete Van Arnum said Ranieri used to be a search and rescue volunteer for his department.
The coroner is likely to perform an autopsy Wednesday. The FAA will be part of the investigation.
The plan was for the three to jump from the helicopter that had taken off from Lake Tahoe Airport and land on Pope Beach like they had done last week. Instead, two of the jumpers landed in the icy waters of Lake Tahoe, while the third landed on the sand.
Helmets, parachutes and other gear from the skydivers. Photos/Kathryn Reed
According to the National Weather Service in Reno, the wind speed at the airport at 8:53am was 17 mph, with gusts of 24 mph. The accident occurred moments earlier.
Van Arnum said sky diving is rare in the Lake Tahoe Basin.
“There are not that many good landing areas in the basin because you don’t want to land in the water or in the trees,” Van Arnum told Lake Tahoe News. “These guys chartered a helicopter ride from airport. Supposedly they were experienced.”
Chris McKean, who owns a barge that is docked at Camp Rich, said he and some of his crew at about 8:45am raced to the jumpers who were in the water. He said the man they pulled to safety was about 250 yards from shore and about three-quarters of a mile down Pope Beach.
McKean said the person was treading water without a life jacket and yelling for help.
“He was shivering and cold and worried,” McKean said.
Hypothermia can set in quickly and people cannot survive for long in Lake Tahoe because of the temperature. The water temperature last week at Camp Rich tested at a depth of 10 feet was 48 degrees, while the surface temp at Timber Cove was 52 degrees.
“We went for the other guy. We found his chute and helmet floating, but not him,” McKean told Lake Tahoe News.
At 10:42am a yell from one of the searchers on one of the nearly dozen vessels helping with locating the missing parachutist could be heard on Pope Beach. The victim’s body had been found several hundred yards off shore.
Law enforcement and private boaters had been using a grid system to locate the victim. A CalStar helicopter had helped early on, with a CHP and Coast Guard chopper called off once the body was located.
The surviving skydivers and their friends waited out the search at Pope Beach, but declined to speak with Lake Tahoe News. Gear from two of the parachutists was in a heap at the edge of the beach parking lot.
“I don’t mean to be rude, but I have no comments at this time,” Claudio Belloto, who runs the helicopter tour operation out of Lake Tahoe Airport wrote in an email to Lake Tahoe News.
About 12 boats, some private, help locate the skydiving victim on May 22.
It was a long wait for friends at Pope Beach.
R.I.P. these were friends of my daughter and son-in-law!
The water was calm early when we were mack fishing 5.30 -7.30,Lake takes another unprepared victim before memorial day that fell from the sky.
Do these heli compaines have good insurance and why just in case of something like this happening don’t they have a recue plan with someone in a boat watching,the baloons always had a extra boat to chase in case winds unknow elements occur.
CHUTE not Shoot. Copy editors have a place in the virtual world as well.
Sorry to hear about this accident. Being a former naval aircrewman, I know how fast you can get into trouble mixing Parachutes, Shroud lines, and water.
Without a Flotation device you stand little chance of survival in the water for even a very short period of time, let alone very cold water with no survival suit, flotation device etc.
This seems like a somewhat sketchy situation to begin with. I agree with Hang Ups, to not have a plan, or a rescue boat set up is poor planning, and if they jumped from a helo, Why did the helo not hang around for the jump and insure a safe landing, the helo could have at least hovered CLOSE BY to mark the two people in the water for the boats insuring a quick recovery.
RIP my friend. You are already missed.
way too soon, we will miss you. much love.
Wouldn’t skydiving in any area near a large body of water merit the use of a PFD as a measure of personal protection? I skydived in the 70’s near the ocean (LZ was a pineapple field a mile from the ocean) and a PFD was mandatory. The loss of life in this situation is extremely sad, but should be used to remind us that it is paramount to take all safety practices very seriously when participating in high risk activities.
Gone too soon! RIP buddy! God bless your child and your family!
Be blessed, Rob. Blessings upon your family. .
First of all it was a terrible day to do jumps over the lake.It is never good to have an accident like this. Blowing almost 25 at jump time . They were said to be experienced . How experienced? Sounds like amature hour to me .How do you miss the beach when jumping from a heli?Sounds like a bad spot by the pilot …. Sad it turned out the way it did. RIP
mike, you are a lawyer’s dream. Blame the pilot? Question the experience? Question the weather? Lawyers love people like you. God Bless the family and friends, I am sorry for your loss.
Does it help to point fingers when faced with sadness. It’s a sad and tragic accident that took a young man too soon. Grief is in the house. No need for blame.
Rob was a good man, always with a big smile and so in love with his darling family and life. You are missed.
Lawyers dream? Who comes up with the idea to do a jump over the lake when the winds are blowing like they were yesterday? I have been flying skydivers over and around lake Tahoe for almost 20 years .I am trying to figure out why this load went up in the first place.No plan on water safety , no floatation device for the jumpers . Did the pilot know the experience level of the jumpers?when you get out of an aircraft over a place like Tahoe goal # one is to land where you are supposed to because there are not many outs.I would have never let these guys jump in those conditions yesterday. Not trying to point fingers just looking at why this happened and looking for answers to make it not happen again. This makes skydivers look bad overall with the lack of planning that went into this jump.His family will miss him for the rest of their lives… It’s very sad.It’s all fun and games till someone dies
Really sad. Sorry for the family’s and friend’s loss. I do want to say that the LTN coverage was much better than the Tribunes this morning. There was a lot of unanswered questions in the Tribune’s article that were answered in the LTN. I do realize there may be a copy restraint at the Tribune, but it is nice to get most of the facts.
Thanks for the good job.
At mike: You were not there !!!!! Forgot you were a SKY GOD !!!!!! Please keep your comments to yourself until you have ALL the facts. Blue Skys …
Mike, aren’t you the same pilot that had jumpers land in the lake a few years back at the North Shore? And didn’t it take several agencies to pluck them out?
You are right I was not there .No disrespect intended. Would like to hear some details as to what happened and why so someone else does not repeat this.If wind and a bad spot had nothing to do with it I am curious why 2 out of three landed in the water?I dumped a coule guys in the lake awhile ago and cannot believe they both lived through it.One of them landed about a mile from shore.Somewhere along the way there was a decision made that ended up with a terrible outcome.You can think whatever you want about me . This kind of stuff shakes me to the core. We are all living very close to the edge.Not trying to offend anyone or act Like a skygod as you put it.
Yea I was the pilot . I have done plenty of stupid stuff. Been very lucky more than twice. I am trying to come from a perspective of what went wrong.I have lost many friends over the years to some pretty very preventable mistakes.Nobody is immune .affected feel right now.I just really hate news like this .
Well Mike, you are offensive. The winds were calm, check NOAA. Don’t rely on Airport reports since their ASOS is unreliable due to location. Common knowledge among local pilots. As to your wanting to know reasons? Well, ever hear of “a sudden gust of wind” or how about the cowboy effect where skydivers constantly like to be seen landing in populated areas. The decision to jump was theirs and theirs alone, not the pilot. They decide where the NOTAM is issued for and issued that as a matter of fact for a place other than the save environment of TVL.
When I woke up @7 am it was gusting almost 30 at my house . I live at around 7 k.. Not my intention to be offensive just trying to learn from this in some way. My bad.I’ve seen plenty of the cowboy effect. As to a sudden gust of wind…. It may have been calm at the airport and calm in the landing area. What were the uppers doing ?yesterday was a very unstable day as far as the wind goes.Anybody have any more info? And 30 years in who might you be now that we have all determined who I am?
Now if I wanted you to know that and be ridiculed to death for having an opinion then I’d have used my own name. For winds aloft you can go through the same process you pilots go through right? Duats, etc. As for me, it’s not difficult for a non-pilot to get that, and that’s what I did. Easy if you want to find it.
So your here to stir the pot anonymously ? Well hopefully some day the facts as to what happen will come out and it doesn’t happen to anyone else .My apologies to those involved.Hopefully everyone can make it through this extra tough time.
Such a sad story! I heard today that he just had a newborn last week, I am with Julie T. on this one blame will not bring this young father back. I am deeply sadned for his wife, baby and friends! RIP
Thirty years in and Mike both need to shut it! Please.
My heartfelt condolences to the family and loved ones for their very tragic loss.
The Lake’s magnificent beauty and allure beckon us to visit her, to play with her, but she remains a cold and unforgiving mistress who demands our respect and requires our fullest attention and caution.
Hi Mike Thanks for understanding my comment on yours. We have many friends in common and I would love to sit down with you in person to discuss the details of this sometime in order to make sure that an accident of this nature never happens again on the south or north shore. Until later Blue Skys
To friends and family of Rob, my sincerest apologies and heartfelt condolences.
To my old rugby buddy, let me know if you want to get a beer this weekend…