{"id":470817,"date":"2026-10-19T19:56:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T19:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/470817\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T19:56:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T19:56:10","slug":"us-airman-who-died-after-fall-at-college-football-game-identified","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/470817\/","title":{"rendered":"US airman who died after fall at college football game identified"},"content":{"rendered":"

By ANNA WILDER,\u00a0Associated Press\/Report for America<\/p>\n

The U.S. airman who died after a rapid fall<\/a> while rappelling from the rafters of a stadium before a college football game in Texas was a 15-year service member from Georgia, according to the Air Force.<\/p>\n

U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Ian Patterson died after being taken to a hospital following Saturday\u2019s fall at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Nellis Air Force Base said in a statement. He had been rappelling toward the ground when spectators watched him plunge to the field prior to Navy\u2019s game against University of Texas at San Antonio.<\/p>\n

The military says an investigation is underway. The demonstration was part of a pregame program for the crowd during the annual \u201cSalute to Armed Forces and Veterans\u201d game in San Antonio.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis tragedy is felt deeply across the 57th Wing,\u201d U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Scott C. Mills, 57th Wing commander, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Patterson was a Tactical Air Control Party instructor assigned to the 6th Combat Training Squadron, Detachment 2, and served for 15 years, according to the military. He was from Fort Stewart, Georgia, and had numerous decorations and commendations.<\/p>\n

A video of the fall that was posted on social media showed Patterson in combat fatigues quickly descending to the ground feet first. The fall occurred with fans in the stands and a band and cheerleaders assembled nearby on the field. He was treated on the field for several minutes and taken away.<\/p>\n

The sister of Patterson\u2019s wife declined to comment.<\/p>\n

\"Emergency<\/p>\n

Emergency responders react to an accident before UTSA\u2019s annual Salute to Armed Forces and Veterans football game at the Alamodome, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026 in San Antonio, Texas. (Cody Duty\/The San Antonio Express-News via AP)\n<\/p>\n

\"Emergency<\/p>\n

Emergency responders react to an accident before UTSA\u2019s annual Salute to Armed Forces and Veterans football game at the Alamodome, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026 in San Antonio, Texas. (Cody Duty\/The San Antonio Express-News via AP)\n<\/p>\n

\"Emergency<\/p>\n

Emergency responders react to an accident before UTSA\u2019s annual Salute to Armed Forces and Veterans football game at the Alamodome, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026 in San Antonio, Texas. (Cody Duty\/The San Antonio Express-News via AP)\n<\/p>\n

\"Emergency<\/p>\n

Emergency responders react to an accident before UTSA\u2019s annual Salute to Armed Forces and Veterans football game at the Alamodome, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026 in San Antonio, Texas. (Cody Duty\/The San Antonio Express-News via AP)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 4<\/p>\n

Emergency responders react to an accident before UTSA\u2019s annual Salute to Armed Forces and Veterans football game at the Alamodome, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026 in San Antonio, Texas. (Cody Duty\/The San Antonio Express-News via AP)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a>
\nGame was delayed after emergency response<\/p>\n

Officials delayed the start of the game for about 10 minutes following the fall.<\/p>\n

UTSA head coach Jeff Traylor said his team could see the effect that it had on the crowd of over 23,000 people as soon as players arrived on the field for the game, which his team won 38-34. Traylor said he had only been told there had been an \u201cincident\u201d that would delay kickoff.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could tell the energy was just gone,\u201d he said. \u201cIt just really puts things in perspective. It really does.\u201d<\/p>\n

Air Force says demonstration included a team of specialists<\/p>\n

Patterson was one of four military service members who were scheduled to participate in the pregame rappelling demonstration.<\/p>\n

According to an Air Force website, the service members who were participating in the rappelling demonstration were part of a team that embeds with Army and Marine units and helps to direct air and artillery strikes from forward ground locations.<\/p>\n

Part of their training includes learning to rapidly drop by rope, sometimes from helicopters that are 100 feet or more above the ground.<\/p>\n

Wilder is a corps member for The Associated Press\/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America<\/a> is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By ANNA WILDER,\u00a0Associated Press\/Report for America The U.S. airman who died after a rapid fall while rappelling from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[159740,27,29,28,159741],"class_list":["post-470817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-death-at-utsa-game","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-what-happened-at-utsa-game"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}