UK Skydiver dies after plummeting onto parked auto

He next saw her on the ground beside the vehicle as people tried to help, and said she had a bad head injury, despite wearing a helmet.

Pamela Gower, 49, plunged 15,000 feet onto a parked auto in County Durham near the airfield where the plane took off, police said.

The 49-year-old was airlifted to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough by the Great North Air Ambulance in a critical condition.

It was understood the patient was seriously injured in the incident.

Last month, two skydivers died in Northern California after their parachute failed to open following a tandem jump.

The centre boss said an investigation is being carried out by the British Parachute Association, as would happen in all cases like this, and they will make a report after interviewing all those who were on the scene at the time and prior to Ms Gower’s jump.

He added that he thought the woman was a “dummy because she wasn’t showing any signs of movement”.

Ms Gower’s cousin Anthony Cairns paid tribute to her online, writing: “RIP Pamela Gower, we will all always love you so much”.

Earlier this year, the British Parachute Association gave the go ahead to Ms Gower to use specifically adapted equipment for skydiving as she was unable to reach a standard ripcord on a parachute.

The police said the coroner had been informed and a post mortem examination would be carried out in due course. They said she had made previous skydives in other countries, but this was her first jump in Britain.

A Remploy spokesman said: “We are shocked and deeply saddened to hear of Pam’s tragic accident”.

“She’s come down because a parachute hasn’t opened properly”. She later died in intensive care, police said.

“She became tangled in the ropes”.

“She came down and hit the side of a vehicle at the end of the cul-de-sac”.

Ian Rosenvinge, from the Skydive Academy at Peterlee Parachute Centre, told MailOnline: ‘She landed extremely hard as a result of a rotating canopy.

The man said the parachutist was not moving before she hit the ground, as she had her arms and legs spread.