Instructor dies as chute fails
2006-04-24 12:10
Ohio - A skydiver was killed when his main parachute failed to open and his back-up chute did not deploy in time, officials said.
The victim, Sergeant Robert Magnuson, was a 28-year veteran and assistant chief of the police force in Canfield, near Youngstown, in eastern Ohio, according to Canfield police. He was also a skydiving instructor, a police dispatcher said.
Magnuson and three other parachutists jumped from 3 000 metres at about 14:00 on Sunday, said Lieutenant John Hiscox of the Geauga County Sheriff's Office. Their plane took off from the Cleveland Parachute Club, a private airstrip 53km southeast of Cleveland.
Magnuson's secondary chute did not deploy in time to properly slow his descent, Hiscox said. Magnuson's body was found about 3km from where the group took off.
The sheriff's office and the Federal Aviation Administration were investigating.
- AP