According to police, an Oklahoma mother of two died in a skydiving accident after having a problem mid-jump while making a solo jump.
According to a statement from the Sallisaw Police Department, Heather Glasgow, 44, of Poteau, passed away from her wounds at a hospital following the fatal fall at Sallisaw Airport on Saturday afternoon.
Police reported that “an unknown issue arose during the skydive.”
Glasgow’s parachute had fully opened when she hit the ground, according to witnesses, but “she was in a spin that she did not recover out of,” the statement said.
In an interview with the station 5NEWS, eyewitness Roland Preston said: “The body that was on that parachute, was just spinning in circles. I mean, it was completely sideways.
“I feel like they were already unconscious in the air. Because if they would have been responsive in the air, they would’ve been kicking their legs. They would have been trying to fight with their arms to control the parachute.”
About 150 miles east of Oklahoma City, close to the Arkansas state line, the accident happened at 3:30 p.m. After being transported to Northeastern Health Systems Sequoyah, Glasgow was declared dead shortly before 8 o’clock.
Glasgow had taken two first-time jump classes at the Adventure Skydive Center in Sallisaw, according to the police, and had previously completed a tandem skydive before the disastrous solo jump.
The woman was last spoken to on Saturday morning, according to Glasgow’s cousin Valori Slaughter, who spoke to the station KFOR. The 44-year-old, according to her, was an experienced skydiver, so when she hadn’t heard from her all day, she wasn’t immediately alarmed.
Slaughter claimed that she received a call about her cousin’s fatal accident that afternoon while she was driving.
“The one thing that was in my mind over and over was the word No. ‘No, no, no, no, no’ I think I told my mom. I didn’t want to believe it,” said Slaughter.
Glasgow leaves behind her two young sons, siblings and cousins.
Slaughter said her cousin faced a series of hardships in her life but remained “tenacious” and joyful.
“She wasn’t just determined to survive,” her cousin said. “She was determined to survive with a smile on her face.”
Glasgow recently wrote on Facebook about how her life has changed since being homeless and jobless a year ago.
Glasgow advertised the Sallisaw skydiving school on her social media page about two weeks prior to her passing. In the message, she also expressed her excitement for making her first instructor-aided jump.
“It should be a nice weekend. If you haven’t taken the plunge and want to then this is the place to do it!” she wrote. Ominously, a week later, Glasgow shared a meme on her page depicting a photo of a headstone displaying her name and photo. The epitaph on the monument read, in part: “When I die, I want to be thrown out of a plane wearing a Superman costume.”
The packing of Glasgow’s main and backup parachutes is under investigation, according to a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration, which is assisting with the investigation.
