SOUTHPORT — According to the sister of Anthony Pietrucci Jr., the 36-year-old is in high spirits after a skydiving accident resulted in him being airlifted to the Novant ICU to treat “catastrophic” injuries.
“He feels like such a beacon, like this ray of light,” Pietrucci’s sister Hillary Hall told Port City Daily. “I feel like it’s so important for me to show up for him because I know that he would do the same for me.”
On Sunday, July 5, Pietrucci — who has been licensed to skydive for at least six years and has completed almost 800 jumps — was at Skydive Coastal Carolinas in Southport when an accident happened. He fell 40 to 100 feet midair before hitting the ground and has a broken rib, severe internal bleeding, an open-book pelvic fracture and fractured part of his lower back.
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Pietrucci received seven units of blood, seven units of plasma, and a unit of platelets. His pelvis also needed to be stabilized before entering emergency surgery to stop the internal bleeding from his iliac arteries.
“He was bleeding out so bad and your iliac arteries are major, major arteries so that was a big scare in the beginning,” Hall said. “He’s definitely going to live.”
Whether or not Pietrucci will regain the ability to walk has yet to be determined, but he remains in good spirits, cracking jokes and remaining cheerful.
“‘I really did it. I really did a big one,’” Hall said her brother told their mother — who is also in recovery from a traumatic brain injury — from his hospital bed. “I got hurt real bad.”
There are conflicting views on what happened that day. According to Conner Strong — Skydive Coastal Carolina employee and friend to Pietrucci — a group of “fun jumpers,” or recreational skydivers, believe a thermal wind gust caught Pietrucci’s parachute canopy.
A thermal wind gust develops when the sun heats the ground to a high temperature but not the surrounding area above, which can create a lift or gust. The gusts can reach speeds of 60 miles per hour in some instances, enough to lift debris. Temperatures need to be at least 80 degrees, in tandem with dry air and clear skies.
The United States Parachute Association characterizes thermals as common but hard to predict due to hour-by-hour weather changes. However, they are most likely to occur between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.; Pietrucci’s accident happened around 9:40 a.m.
“There was no way to even predict this,” Hall said. “It wasn’t negligence. It wasn’t him you know doing anything wrong or reckless or anything like that. It was just unexpected.”
Connor Strong explained the USPA governs skydiving and sets wind limits for divers. On the day of the accident, limits were within the operating guidelines for first-time divers and students.
“There was nothing indicating that it wasn’t optimal or anything,” he said. “It was still a good day out.”
At the time of the accident, Connor Strong estimates he was 20 to 30 feet above Pietrucci, who was attempting a sports maneuver using a smaller canopy.
“You can just tell” when a dive is taking a turn after 900 dives, Connor Strong added. His father, Brian Strong, and the owner of Skydive Coastal Carolinas, was on the ground and called 9-1-1 before Pietrucci hit the ground, as he could see something was awry.
Brian Strong has been operating his skydiving business for 30 years and says he has only seen injuries of this caliber once before, around nine years ago.
While Hall and Conner Strong believe the cause was a thermal wind gust, Brian Strong believes the accident was caused by Pietrucci doing a low turn to try and pick up speed for a high-speed landing; Pietrucci was unable to do so.
Emergency services, including firefighters and EMS, arrived approximately 8 minutes after impact.
Connor Strong told Port City Daily divers at the scene immediately began stabilizing Pietrucci’s neck to ensure he did not move while waiting for emergency services to arrive. Pietrucci was Medevaced to Novant NHRMC.
When Hall found out about the accident, she said: “My mind went to you know, like the worst-case scenario and I immediately thought maybe he was dead or paralyzed.”
Friends and family have started a meal train to help once Pietrucci is out of the hospital and a GoFundMe to cover living and hospital expenses. They’re hoping to raise at least $35,000, to cover his uninsured ICU visit, specialized physical therapies and other needs. More than $20,000 has been raised by press; Hall suspects medical bills could be in the hundreds of thousands.
Hall reflected on the financial stressors when their mother was in ICU with her traumatic brain injury, not knowing how to pay for her car or living situation post-hospital.
“You shouldn’t have to worry about [money] when you’re going through a traumatic experience like that,” Hall said. “He’s so young and he’s so healthy and so optimistic and so full of life, I want him to really be able to focus on his recovery.”
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