Parachuting Trainer Dies Following Plummeting Without Safety Gear in Music City
The Federal Aviation Administration is looking into the fatality of a skydiving instructor following he became separated from his student during a dive in Nashville, Tennessee.
Police report trainer Justin Fuller "appears to have fallen from the sky without a safety chute" during the dive on Saturday.
The instructor, 35 years old, seems to have separated from his client and a tandem rig, which links the pair during a jump and includes the parachute.
A police helicopter found the instructor's remains in a wooded area hours later. The Nashville Fire Department used multiple pieces of equipment to access the middle-aged student who survived the fall after being trapped on a tree branch for hours with the emergency parachute.
Officials stated three other dives, which took place near Nashville's John C Tune airport, were carried out without incident prior to the deadly incident. Aircraft from which they jumped also touched down without issue.
The cause remains unknown how the instructor, an experienced skydiver, became separated from the protective gear.
A individual who assisted rescue teams in the operation informed a local television station the student who officials rescued said "he was a first-time jumper, and it was going to be his last".
Mr Fuller had recently written about his passion for instructing people how to skydive.
"Instructing individuals to parachute has always been in my view the most rewarding job at the jump site," the instructor said in an Instagram post in June.
"Observing students learn the skills and start flying their selves is consistently a heartwarming moment. Occasionally though, it can get a little hectic up there when you release a student for their first time."
During that period he shared images of the damage a skydiving plane he was on saying the plane's engine had failed after take off. All 20 people onboard lived through the incident.
