The airman who died in a rappelling demonstration gone wrong on Saturday night was a Tactical Air Control Party instructor with 15 years of service in the Air Force.
The Air Force identified the airman Monday as Tech. Sgt. Ian Patterson, a Tactical Air Control Party instructor assigned to a training detachment of the 6th Combat Training Squadron at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas.
Patterson was part of a four-person demonstration before a football game between the University of Texas at San Antonio and the U.S. Naval Academy at the city’s Alamodome. Patterson’s team planned to drop from the rafters in the 160-foot-high stadium onto the playing field. Videos posted online of the incident appear to show him sliding down the rope far too fast before he hits the ground.
Emergency responders rushed to him on the field and tended to him for several minutes before he was taken away on a stretcher. The San Antonio Fire Department transported him to an area hospital with life-threatening injuries; he died at the hospital. Air Force officials said the incident is under investigation.
“This tragedy is felt deeply across the 57th Wing,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Scott C. Mills, 57th Wing commander, said in a release Monday. “Tech. Sgt. Patterson and his service mattered immensely to our wing, and to the family, friends, and teammates who had the privilege of knowing and serving alongside him. Our team is now focused on standing beside Ian’s family, loved ones, and fellow airmen as we navigate this profound loss together.”
Patterson, from Fort Stewart, Georgia, had served for 15 years. In 2022, he was named the Air Force Special Warfare Enlisted Instructor of the Year at the Headquarters Air Force level, according to the service. His awards include the Air and Space Commendation Medal, the Air and Space Achievement Medal and the Army Achievement Medal, among others.
An Air Force TACP is a special operations airman who embeds with ground forces, typically from other service branches, to coordinate close air support to strike enemy targets during operations.
The 6th Combat Training Squadron, headquartered at Nellis Air Force Base, trains troops from different branches to be forward air controllers, which includes TACPs. Detachment 2 operates at Joint Base San Antonio, near the stadium where the incident took place.
The rappelling demonstration was part of pre-game events at the Alamodome, done as part of UTSA’s annual Salute to Armed Forces & Veterans game. Thousands of people were inside the stadium and watched the accident. The football game was delayed for approximately 10 minutes.
The services have showcased similar rappelling demos at sporting events for decades. In 2012, pararescue troops with the Kentucky Air National Guard rappelled down the side of the University of Louisville stadium and in 2016, soldiers rappelled from the ceiling at a Major League Baseball game in Florida.
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