Airman dies in rappelling demonstration at Navy football game
A service member with an Air Force special warfare training unit died Saturday night during a pregame demonstration at a Naval Academy football game when they fell while rappelling from the rafters of a football stadium in San Antonio, Texas.
A spokesperson for Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, confirmed that a service member assigned to the 6th Combat Training Squadron, Detachment 2, died from injuries sustained in a fall during a pregame demonstration prior to the game between the University of Texas at San Antonio and the Naval Academy at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
The 6th Combat Training Squadron trains service members from across the military as terminal air controllers, troops trained in both ground combat operations and the technical skills of directing strike aircraft over a battlefield. The unit’s Detachment 2 at Lackland Air Force Base, about 12 miles from the Alamodome, runs the selection and initial training courses for airmen attempting to qualify as Tactical Air Control Party, or TACPs, one of the Air Force’s primary terminal air control jobs.
The incident happened during a pregame rappelling demonstration ahead of UTSA’s annual Salute to Armed Forces & Veterans game. Four military members were to rappel from the rafters of the Alamodome to the ground. According to the San Antonio Express-News, halfway through the descent, one person slid down the rope in “an uncontrolled manner” and hit the ground hard. Football staff rushed to the injured man, and medical personnel provided first aid before the injured airman was put on a stretcher.
The San Antonio Fire Department told Task & Purpose that it transported a person with a life-threatening injury to a hospital. The Air Force later confirmed that the airman had died.
“The incident is under investigation. More information will be released as it becomes available,” the Nellis spokesperson said.
The Air Force did not identify the deceased.
Prior to the Air Force’s announcement that the service member died, a spokesperson for UTSA athletics confirmed that the rappel team was made up of members of 6th Combat Training Squadron, Detachment 2. TACPs embed with soldiers and Marines and direct and coordinate airstrikes from ground positions.
The 6th Combat Training Squadron is based at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, although Detachment 2 operates from Joint Base San Antonio-Camp Bullis.
This is a developing story.
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An Air Force service member died during a rappelling demonstration at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, on Saturday night. The member was part of the 6th Combat Training Squadron, Detachment 2, and fell while descending from the rafters. Medical personnel provided first aid, but the airman later succumbed to injuries. The incident is currently under investigation.
- An Air Force service member died during a rappelling demonstration at a football game.
- The incident occurred at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
- The service member was part of the 6th Combat Training Squadron, Detachment 2.
- The Air Force confirmed the death and stated that the incident is under investigation.