LONGMONT, Colo. -- The questions continue to mount around the death of a skydiver in Longmont earlier this month and the company where he jumped, Mile High Skydiving.
"We have reasons to suspect that maybe the practices being carried out aren't as safe as they should be," said Longmont City Councilwoman Marcia Martin. "It was many hours between the time that the young man landed and the time that the city found out there was a skydiver missing."
It took almost a day for search crews to find the body of 23-year-old Logan Polfuss.
An experienced skydiver, friends tell Denver7 he loved adventure and motivating people to do things they never thought they could.
The city said Mile High Skydiving didn't know Polfuss was missing until his girlfriend called police late Thursday night, hours after he went missing that afternoon.
"How does that happen?" asked Denver7 reporter Jennifer Kovaleski.
"Well, that was exactly what we said," responded Martin.
It would take ground and air search teams another 12 hours to find Polfuss in Boulder County.
Martin said this is the third incident with Mile High Skydiving this year. The first incident involved a skydiver who landed in the wrong place and was trespassing. Another skydiver was injured after landing in electrical wiring.
"We did strongly suggest Mile High suspend its operations, which is all we can do; Mile High chose not to do that," she said.
Skydiving is regulated through the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and because of that, Martin said the city is limited on what action it can take until the FAA completes their investigation.
If the FAA finds any wrongdoing, Martin said the city could then revoke Mile High's license. She also said they are considering whether, through an ordinance, the city could make the company update the waiver skydivers must sign before jumping to ensure Mile High is notified as quickly as possible if someone goes missing.
"They do have to sign a waiver saying that Mile High isn't liable if they're injured or killed because skydiving is a dangerous sport," explained Martin. "However, that waiver could require that jumpers check in at the office when they come back after jumping and the waiver doesn't require that."
Denver7 called, emailed and stopped by Mile High Skydiving's business at the Longmont airport to get their side of the story. An employee would only tell us "no comment."
Mile High's website says the company has been in business since 1995, and Longmont was only aware of one other death related to the company.
