Michael Ungar, a resident of Ontario, died on Tuesday afternoon while skydiving in Perris, California. Police subsequently conducted an investigation at the airport of the Perris Valley Skydiving Center.
Michael Ungar, a resident of Aylmer, Ontario, enjoyed high-speed descents during skydiving, and these risky maneuvers may have contributed to his death. The 32-year-old died on Tuesday after landing during a skydive in California. Single and an experienced skydiver with over 1,600 jumps, he was passionate about the extreme sport.
Paul Martens, an instructor at the Niagara Skydive Centre in Niagara, Ontario, said that Ungar had worked as a full-time instructor at the center for two seasons before hoping to make a living through the sport.
For Martens, skydiving was just a hobby for weekends, but he said Ungar went to work in warmer California so he could skydive year-round. Speaking from his home in Toronto, Martens said Ungar’s goal was to make a full-time income from the sport.
However, an accident occurred at the Perris Valley Skydiving Center, located 115 kilometers southeast of Los Angeles. Police in Riverside County and Perris said on Wednesday that Ungar landed in a shallow pond around 2 p.m., possibly after performing one of his favorite maneuvers.
With 1,600 skydives under his belt
Martens said the most critical moment in any skydive is when your feet touch the ground. It’s unclear whether Ungar attempted a water landing maneuver. Witnesses reported seeing his parachute open and circling close to the ground. According to the center’s website, Ungar made his first skydive on July 23, 2003, and was a certified instructor. Since 2000, there have been 14 fatalities at the Perris Valley Airport. Some people continued to skydive even after the accident on Tuesday.