Two Skydivers Die After Midair Collision in California
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Center 25%
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1 left · 1 center · 2 right
What happened
On Friday, two licensed skydivers — Georgia Jean, 56, of Box Elder, South Dakota, and Levi Pimentel, 29, of Aurora, Illinois — died after colliding midair near Skydive Elsinore in Lake Elsinore, California, about 75 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles. Both were visiting from out of town to take part in an organized event tied to the California Women’s Upright Record team’s world-record attempt for the number of women to execute a standing-stance dive. Skydive Elsinore said the freefall was normal, both opened their parachutes at the expected altitude, and they collided at about 150 feet while preparing to land, entangling their canopies; the company said there was no indication of equipment malfunction. They suffered traumatic injuries, were taken to a hospital in critical condition, and were pronounced dead. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating.
Sourcing check · Mostly on the record · 4 articles
3 of 4 articles cite a named source for the story. It was on the record from the first report.
What these terms mean and how they're counted
- On the record · names a source 3 of 4
- On the record means the article cites a source by name for the story's main claim: a person, or an institution speaking officially, such as a company statement or a named agency's spokesperson. The opposite is an unnamed source. The count is how many of the counted articles cite at least one such source; the names are everyone named across them, each once however the articles spell it. Here: Skydive Elsinore, Riverside County Fire Department, Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, United States Parachute Association, Riverside County Sheriff's Department and Riverside County coroner's office
- Primary evidence · cites a document or data 0 of 4
- Primary evidence means the article cites a record you could check yourself: a court filing or ruling, a dataset or report, a recording or transcript, an official statement or press release, market data. A quote is not a document. The count is how many articles cite one. Here: None cited.
- Credits another outlet 0 of 4
- The article says the story comes from another outlet's reporting (“first reported by Reuters”). Those articles relay the story; they are not independent confirmation. Here: Each article presents its own reporting.
- Unnamed sources 0 of 4
- The main claim is attributed to people who are not identified: “people familiar with the matter”, “officials said”. The count is how many articles do this.
- How it developed
- When the first report landed and whether it named anyone; when the first named source and the first document appeared. Here: First report Nov 7, 05:21 UTC by NBC News, naming its source.
- Not counted 0
- Opinion, analysis and video pieces, and articles too short to assess. Every count above is out of the counted articles. An article republished under a new headline is one article.
This is about who is cited, not whether the story is true. Each source below says what it names. How we count
Omitted — what each side leaves out
Unpacked
Right-leaning coverage never mentions the women's world-record attempt that left-leaning coverage says brought the pair to Lake Elsinore, so the deaths read as two out-of-town visitors on an ordinary jump. The team named by NBC News is the California Women's Upright Record group, which was organizing a standing-stance record. Fox News describes only an "organized dive."
The New York Post leads with personal jump histories and a 2015 blog. Left-leaning coverage leads with the collision and withholds names pending next of kin. The Post hangs its story on a victim's "deathwish" line, which is striking, but no outlet ties that old fear to how the parachutes tangled.
Why did two open parachutes converge on the landing approach?
Bottom line
NBC News covered the crash as a nameless record-attempt accident. The New York Post covered it as a named tragedy foreshadowed in a 2015 blog.
The receipts — 6 facts one side's coverage lacks
- The pair were participating in the California Women's Upright Record team, which was organizing a world-record standing-stance dive
- Victims identified as Georgia Jean, 56, of Box Elder, S.D., and Levi Pimentel, 29, of Aurora, Ill.
- Jean wrote in a 2015 blog post that she feared she might be a deathwish time bomb
- 16 U.S. skydiving deaths last year and an estimated 3.47 million jumps in 2025
- Gusts reaching up to 20 mph at the time of the jump
- The FAA is investigating and will collect the parachutes
The Left View
NBC News treated the deaths as an official incident account, withholding names pending next-of-kin notification and relying on Skydive Elsinore, fire officials, and the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. It framed the pair as “licensed and experienced,” quoted the drop zone that freefall was “normal and uneventful,” and noted they were in a women’s world-record attempt the center was hosting but not organizing. The piece placed the accident in industry context via the United States Parachute Association: 16 U.S. skydiving deaths last year against an estimated 3.47 million jumps in 2025, “a number it describes as low compared to the sport’s most dangerous years in the 1970s.” It quoted the drop zone’s condolences and said a cause “wasn’t immediately clear.”
The Right View
The New York Post named both women and framed the accident around Jean’s 2015 blog post, billed as a “haunting ‘deathwish’ post,” in which she wrote she had overcome “the incredible fear that I might be a ‘deathwish time bomb’ just waiting to go off” after failing the first level of training three times. It detailed résumés and prior acquaintance — Jean as a former comedian with a 2024 bronze medal in mixed formation skydiving, Pimentel as lead instructor at iFLY Naperville — and reported gusts up to 20 mph, saying it “remains unclear whether the conditions played a role.” Fox News likewise identified the victims as “experienced,” cited Jean’s more than 1,700 jumps and Pimentel’s instructor role, and noted the FAA investigation.
Our Take (balanced)
Left-leaning coverage’s strongest argument is that this was an unexplained accident involving licensed jumpers whose freefall, openings, and gear were described as normal, in a sport whose recent U.S. fatality count the USPA presents as low relative to jump volume (16 deaths versus an estimated 3.47 million jumps). Right-leaning coverage’s strongest argument is that the jumpers’ biographies — especially Jean’s decade-old “deathwish time bomb” language and both women’s competitive and instructional records — plus unconfirmed wind, belong in any account of how two experienced women still collided on landing. The central unresolved tension is whether the story is chiefly an operational incident still without a cause, set against the sport’s statistical safety record, or a personal tragedy whose meaning is located in individual history and environmental factors not established as causal.
4 sources
- Two skydivers die after colliding over Southern California
- Jump history of 2 skydivers killed in tragic midair collision revealed after victim’s haunting ‘deathwish’ post
- Two experienced skydivers die after midair collision entangles their parachutes
- 2 licensed skydivers die after midair collision in California
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