The circumstances behind the death of an Air Force special operations instructor during a Saturday rappelling demonstration may remain unknown for weeks or even months. What is already clear is that such public demonstrations, especially by highly trained special operations units, are hardly new.

Air Force Tech. Sgt. Ian Patterson, a Tactical Air Control Party instructor assigned to a training unit at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas, died after falling from the rafters of the city’s Alamodome football stadium. He was participating in a rappelling demonstration before a college football game.

The stadium’s technical manual places the rafters at least 160 feet above the playing field. Video of the accident appears to show Patterson holding or attached to rappelling lines while falling unchecked.

The Air Force has made no statement identifying the cause of the accident. Even so, some media commentary has tried to connect Patterson’s death to recent recruiting and marketing efforts under Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who has pushed for an action and combat oriented military image.

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The Daily Beast called the accident “Hegseth’s stunt.” Another story from the publication repeated that framing, while Newsweek and other outlets published collections of reactions echoing much of the same line.

The Air Force did not immediately answer questions about which chain of command ordered or approved the demonstration. Military personnel rappelling into football games, however, have appeared at public events across the country for at least a decade.

San Antonio alone has hosted several similar demonstrations in recent years. Air Force special warfare instructors stationed at Lackland, where Patterson served, and groups of Army soldiers have performed at least four other rappelling demonstrations at the Alamodome and the city’s AT&T Center.

Military personnel have also rappelled into San Antonio Spurs basketball games and the city’s annual stock show and rodeo. The rodeo demonstrations occurred in both 2023 and 2024, before Hegseth arrived at the Pentagon.

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Military photographers have documented stadium rappelling demonstrations dating back to at least 2018. Those events occurred in Arizona, New York, Idaho, South Dakota, and California, while separate demonstrations from helicopters were recorded at several NASCAR race tracks.

Many service members encounter rappelling during basic training or another early stage of their careers. The skill is especially important for ground combat units operating in steep terrain or deploying from helicopters where a safe landing zone is unavailable.

For helicopter operations, rappelling is considered an alternate insertion method alongside fast roping. Rappelling is generally safe and can be performed from nearly any height with enough rope, but each rope can carry only one team member at a time.

Fast roping allows several team members to descend a thicker rope in quick succession. It usually requires a helicopter to hover lower and can result in falls, while many special operations units train specifically to use both techniques for rescues and direct raids.

Rappelling comes from mountain climbing, where climbers descend terrain too steep to walk or climb down. A mechanical brake, or less commonly a simple knot, allows a person to move quickly while controlling speed, stopping at a specific point, or remaining suspended to assist someone on a cliff face.

As a TACP instructor, Patterson would almost certainly have possessed expert skill in rappelling. TACP is one of four Air Force Special Warfare roles in which rappelling is a core job skill for both steep terrain and helicopter operations.

In August, the Air Force released a 19 photo gallery showing Patterson’s unit, Detachment 2 of the 6th Combat Training Squadron, practicing rappelling techniques. The images did not identify airmen by name, but showed TACP instructors and students descending from a training tower and a hovering helicopter at Camp Bullis outside San Antonio.

Air Force rappel instruction for Special Warfare roles follows service training rules based on the Army’s TC-21-24 rappelling manual. For fixed structures, the manual requires oversight from a Rappel Master, a Safety Officer, and a rappel lane noncommissioned officer, with training also able to include a dedicated ground belayer.

The Rappel Master controls all aspects of training, while the Safety Officer checks personnel and equipment preparation. The lane noncommissioned officer directly supervises each rappeller using an individual rope.

An Air Force investigation into Patterson’s death will examine which procedures were in place during the fatal demonstration. Until that review is complete, the cause of the accident remains officially unannounced.

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