Sixteen-year-old, Makenzie Wethington, fell 3,500 feet during a skydiving excursion and survived. Wethington traveled to Oklahoma to fulfill her longtime dream of skydiving.
Although she miraculously survived she did sustain serious injuries. According to AssociatedPress Dr. Bender, who treated Wethington, said along with breaking a tooth and damaging her liver she broke her pelvis, lumbar spine in her lower back, a shoulder blade and several ribs.
Most skydiving companies require jumpers to be at least eighteen-years-old and jump attached to an experienced diver. So why did Pegasus Air Sports Center allow Wethington to jump alone?
Although Pegasus owner, Bob Swainson, did comment he did not give reason as to why she was allowed to jump solo in the first place. He blamed the accident on Wethington’s lack of control and ignorance to her training.
According to NBCDFW Swainson said, "We go through those scenarios and tell the jumper how to control, how to fix the problem. From what we can determine, she did not do that, go through that training as taught.”