By Mark Berman
The Roanoke Times
BLACKSBURG, Va. — Someone call the writers of the ABC drama “9-1-1.” They may want to steal a rescue idea from what happened at Lane Stadium on Saturday.
Skydiver Pasha Palanker, who was part of the pregame festivities at Virginia Tech’s annual spring football game, crashed into the top of the video board overlooking Lane’s north end zone stands at about 3 p.m. Saturday.
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His parachute’s canopy got caught on the top of the video board, leaving Palanker dangling in the air for about 25 minutes before he was rescued by members of the Blacksburg Volunteer Fire Department.
Three skydivers from Ohio -based Team Fastrax, a professional skydiving team, performed Saturday. Only one of the skydivers landed on the Lane Stadium football field as planned. The second skydiver landed on the practice field behind the north end zone stands. Palanker was the third skydiver.
“Mother Nature got the best of him,” Team Fastrax ground safety specialist Sam Deeds said of Palanker in an interview at the stadium. “There was a huge wind gust that came in at that last minute and pushed (the second skydiver and Palanker) both back. The two guys that landed outside the stadium both had (American) flags attached to them. With those flags, the wind caught those pretty good and gave them a bigger push than the guy without the flag. Even the guy that didn’t have the flag got a good push inside the stadium.”
The words ” VIRGINIA TECH” are at the top of the video board. Palanker struck the letters E and C , causing the front portion of those letters to fall to the ground in between the base of the video board and the north end zone stands.
Deeds said the wind took Palanker into the video board.
“He made that decision to turn and he got a push from the back and then he got a side push and that’s what put him into the (video board),” Deeds said.
After Palanker’s parachute was caught on the top of the video board, Palanker dropped his American flag to the ground so that the added weight would not create more danger for him.
“He made a decision that was going to be the safest decision for him and the crowd and not put that weight from the flag into the crowd,” Deeds said. “To make that decision at 700, 1,000 feet to try to not put it in the crowd and make it safe for everybody, it takes a lot of training to do that.
“There’s a cutaway system in all of our flag systems … in case there is some type of malfunction. So he did cut that away safely. He made sure no one was below him before he did it.”
Deeds said Palanker remained still and composed while dangling from the top of the video board.
Blacksburg Volunteer Fire Department truck No. 11 extended its 75-foot ladder but was unable to reach Palanker as he dangled from the video board.
Blacksburg Volunteer Fire Department truck No. 12, which has a 100-foot ladder, then took over. That ladder, with two firefighters in a bucket at the top of the ladder, was able to reach Palanker. After Palanker got into the bucket, he used a cutaway system to detach himself from the parachute.
Palanker was treated in an ambulance behind the north end zone stands. After he got out of the ambulance, his left arm was in a sling. Deeds said he believed Palanker tweaked his shoulder when he crashed into the video board. But Deeds said Palanker had no broken bones or lacerations.
“His spirits are down,” Deeds said.
Palanker denied an interview request after leaving the ambulance.
Deeds said Palanker is a retired U.S. Army veteran who used to be an Army parachutist and special operations instructor. He said Palanker is in his fifth or sixth season with Team Fastrax. He said Palanker is from the DMV area. According to Palanker’s website, he is a two-time recipient of the Purple Heart.
Palanker refused to go to the hospital.
“That just shows the soldier mentality,” Deeds said.
Deeds said this type of accident has never happened to his team before.
“Any time that you have a teammate that looks in distress at all or doesn’t hit their target, you get concerned,” Deeds said. “But to see him not broken, not bloodied, it kind of sets you at ease a little bit.
“We train for this not to happen. The one thing we can’t train for is Mother Nature to creep up on you.”
Had Deeds fretted before the rescue that the parachute would become disengaged from the top of the video board and cause Palanker to plummet to the ground?
“It’s always a thought,” Deeds said.
Deeds said the team performs each fall at a Lane Stadium night game. He said Saturday was the eighth or ninth time the team has performed at Lane Stadium .
The accident occurred before the Virginia Tech football team had entered Lane Stadium. The start of the game was delayed about an hour.
Four hours after the accident, the parachute remained hanging from the top of the video board.
An official from the Blacksburg Fire Department could not be reached for comment.
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