Skydiving Trainer Killed After Plummeting Lacking Parachute in Music City
Federal aviation authorities is investigating the fatality of a parachuting trainer after he got detached from his student during a dive in Music City, TN.
Authorities say instructor the instructor "appears to have dropped from the air without a parachute" during the dive on Saturday.
The instructor, 35 years old, appeared to have separated from his student and a tandem rig, which connects the pair during a jump and contains the parachute.
A law enforcement aircraft found Fuller's body in a forested zone some time after. Local emergency crews used multiple pieces of equipment to access the middle-aged student who lived through the fall after being trapped on a tree for hours with the emergency parachute.
Officials said several additional jumps, which took place near Nashville's John C Tune airport, were successfully completed before the fatal fall. The plane from which they leaped also touched down without issue.
It is unclear how the instructor, an experienced skydiver, became separated from the protective gear.
A man who helped fire crews in the operation told a local television station the client who authorities saved said "he was a first-time jumper, and it was going to be his final one".
The instructor had recently written about his enthusiasm for instructing people how to skydive.
"Teaching people to skydive has always been in my view the most satisfying job at the jump site," the instructor said in an Instagram post in June.
"Observing students figure it out and start flying their selves is always a touching moment. Occasionally though, it can become quite chaotic up there when you let someone go for their first time."
During that period he posted photos of the damage a skydiving plane he was on noting the aircraft's motor had failed after departure. Every individual onboard survived.
