Mom of two dies in skydiving accident after parachute goes into spin
A mother of two from Oklahoma has died in a skydiving accident after running into some trouble midair during a solo jump, police said.
Heather Glasgow, 44, of Poteau, succumbed to her injuries at a hospital after the fatal fall at Sallisaw Airport on Saturday afternoon, according to a statement from the Sallisaw Police Department.
“An unknown issue arose during the skydive,” cops said.
Witnesses told investigators that Glasgow’s parachute had fully opened, “but she was in a spin that she did not recover out of” before hitting the ground, the statement read.
In an interview with the station 5NEWS, eyewitness Roland Preston said: “The body that was on that parachute, was just spinning in circles. I mean, it was completely sideways.
“I feel like they were already unconscious in the air. Because if they would have been responsive in the air, they would’ve been kicking their legs. They would have been trying to fight with their arms to control the parachute.”
The accident took place around 3:30 p.m. near the Arkansas state line and about 150 miles east of Oklahoma City. Glasgow was taken to Northeastern Health Systems Sequoyah, where she was pronounced dead just after 8 p.m.
Police said Glasgow had previously conducted a tandem skydive before the ill-fated solo jump and attended two first-time jump classes at Adventure Skydive Center in Sallisaw.
Glasgow’s cousin, Valori Slaughter, told the station KFOR that she last spoke to the woman Saturday morning. She said the 44-year-old was not new to skydiving, so when she had not heard from her throughout the day, she was not immediately alarmed.
Slaughter said she was driving that afternoon when she got a call about her cousin’s fatal accident.
“The one thing that was in my mind over and over was the word No. ‘No, no, no, no, no’ I think I told my mom. I didn’t want to believe it,” said Slaughter.
Glasgow leaves behind her two young sons, siblings and cousins.
Slaughter said her cousin faced a series of hardships in her life but remained “tenacious” and joyful.
“She wasn’t just determined to survive,” her cousin said. “She was determined to survive with a smile on her face.”
Glasgow recently wrote on Facebook about being homeless and unemployed only a year ago, but turning her life around since then.
About two weeks before her death, Glasgow posted a message on her social media page touting the skydiving school in Sallisaw and expressing her excitement ahead of her first instructor-aided jump.
“It should be a nice weekend. If you haven’t taken the plunge and want to then this is the place to do it!” she wrote.
Ominously, a week later, Glasgow shared a meme on her page depicting a photo of a headstone displaying her name and photo. The epitaph on the monument read, in part: “When I die, I want to be thrown out of a plane wearing a Superman costume.”
The Federal Aviation Administration, which is assisting in the investigation, said in a statement that it is looking into the packing of Glasgow’s main and reserve parachutes.
