MAY 7, 2015
A former Lompoc resident who worked as a skydive instructor
and was known by friends as an adventurous thrill-seeker was killed Thursday in
a plane crash off the shore of Mexico.
Robin Ballachey, who was from Lake Tahoe, was in Mexico to
work as a skydive instructor for the summer, according to a friend. The
Vallarta Daily, a newspaper out of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, reported Thursday
evening that a small Cessna 180 crashed into the Bay of Banderas off the coast
at Las Glorias Beach in Puerto Vallarta. The paper reported that three of the
five passengers on the plane were rescued.
Though the paper did not identify any of the passengers, the
33-year-old Ballachey was confirmed by those who knew her in Lompoc as one of
the two passengers who died in the crash.
The small plane, a Cessna 180, which is often used for
skydiving, came down on May 7 one kilometer from the coast of Las Glorias beach
in Jalisco.
Wreckage from the aircraft was found about 1,000 meters
below sea level.
It is still unknown whether the bodies of missing people are
inside the fuselage.
A Mexican pilot and two US citizens survived the accident,
though the Americans sustained minor injuries.
The area has been battered by strong waves in recent days as
a result of ocean swells.
David Hughes, the owner of Skydive Santa Barbara, where
Ballachey worked for at least a few years, said Friday that he and the rest of
the staff at the company were still reeling from hearing the news that morning.
“It was a big shock to us,” he said. “It’s a close-knit
family here, so everybody here knew her really well. Everybody liked her. She
was a wonderful person.”
Hughes said many of the people at the Puerto
Vallarta center are friends with people at the Lompoc jump site.
Hughes said that he is in the process of planning a memorial
jump event for Ballachey at Skydive Santa Barbara, which is based at the Lompoc
Airport. That event likely will take place May 17.
Lompoc resident Elizabeth Martinez is also in the planning
stages of a fundraiser to benefit Ballachey’s family.
Martinez said she was Ballachey’s hairdresser and often hung
out with her at The Village Office Bar in Vandenberg Village, where Ballachey
was a part-time bartender.
“She was beautiful, for sure, and she was one of the
sweetest people you’d ever meet,” Martinez said. “She was the most adventurous
person I’ve ever met in my whole life.”
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Date:
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07-MAY-2015
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Time:
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15:50
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Type:
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Owner/operator:
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Registration:
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C/n / msn:
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Fatalities:
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Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 5
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Other fatalities:
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0
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Airplane damage:
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Unknown
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Location:
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off Puerto Vallarta (PVR) -
Mexico |
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Phase:
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Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
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Nature:
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Parachuting
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Departure airport:
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PVR
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Destination airport:
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PVR
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Narrative:
A Cessna 180 had taken off from Puerto Vallarta (PVR) carrying a pilot and four skydivers.
The airplane crashed into the waters off Las Glorias beach. The pilot and two skydivers survived. Two others are still missing and are presumed to have died.
A Cessna 180 had taken off from Puerto Vallarta (PVR) carrying a pilot and four skydivers.
The airplane crashed into the waters off Las Glorias beach. The pilot and two skydivers survived. Two others are still missing and are presumed to have died.
Sources:
http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=175979
WWW.INFORMATIVO.COM.MX
http://www.informador.com.mx/jalisco/2015/590774/6/cae-avioneta-al-mar-con-cinco-personas-en-puerto-vallarta.htm
http://lompocrecord.com/news/local/former-lompoc-resident-dies-in-plane-crash-in-mexico/article_acf7c2d9-76d8-5c78-a331-24b0fe926e90.html