The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating the death of a skydiving instructor, Justin Fuller, following a jump in Nashville, Tennessee, where he became separated from his student. Reports indicate that Fuller, 35, is presumed to have fallen from the sky without a parachute during the tandem jump on Saturday.
According to police, Fuller appeared to have detached from a tandem rig, which connects the instructor and student during the jump and includes the parachute. Hours later, a police helicopter located his body in a wooded area. Meanwhile, the Nashville Fire Department utilized ladders and a pulley system to rescue the 46-year-old client who survived the incident, having been trapped in a tree with an emergency parachute.
Prior to the fatal incident, three successful dives had taken place near Nashville’s John C. Tune Airport, and the aircraft from which they jumped also landed without issues. The circumstances surrounding how Fuller became separated from his safety equipment remain unclear.
A witness assisting fire crews during the rescue reported that the client indicated it was his first jump and expressed that it would also be his last. Fuller had previously shared about his enthusiasm for teaching others to skydive, describing it as a rewarding experience. In an Instagram post from June, he mentioned the thrill of watching students learn to control their bodies in the air. Additionally, he had posted about experiencing an engine failure on a skydiving plane earlier that same month, from which all 20 people onboard survived.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2knw1nlgdyo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss