Shadow205
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2005
- Messages
- 3,755
- Reaction score
- 1,430
FAYETTEVILLE, West Virginia Thousands of people watched a parachutist jump to his death from a bridge during a popular festival Saturday when his chute opened too late, a sheriff said.
Brian Lee Schubert, 66, died of injuries suffered when he hit the New River, 876 feet (263 meters) below the New River Gorge Bridge, officials said. After the man's body was recovered and taken to a local funeral home, jumping at the festival resumed, said Fayette County Sheriff Bill Laird.
Schubert, from Alta Loma, California, was an experienced BASE jumper, said Laird. He was taking part in West Virginia's annual Bridge Day festival, which typically draws an estimated 100,000 spectators and about 400 parachutists to the southern part of the state.
Lew Whitener, a newspaper photographer covering the event for the Register-Herald of Beckley, said it appeared the chute did not start to open until the man was about 25 feet (7.5 meters) above the water
<snip>
The fatality is the first since 1987 at the popular event. For one day a year, the National Park Service allows people to parachute off the world's second largest single-span bridge to the river below. To qualify to jump off the bridge, applicants must have skydived at least 50 times.
There were a total of 804 separate jumps between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., Laird said. Nearly 400 jumpers from 13 countries participated, and several minor injuries were reported. Laird said the jumping was allowed to continue because it did not appear weather was a factor in the accident
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/21/america/NA_GEN_US_Bridge_Day_Death.php
http://images.google.com/imgres?img...e+bridge&start=3&sa=X&oi=images&ct=image&cd=3
Brian Lee Schubert, 66, died of injuries suffered when he hit the New River, 876 feet (263 meters) below the New River Gorge Bridge, officials said. After the man's body was recovered and taken to a local funeral home, jumping at the festival resumed, said Fayette County Sheriff Bill Laird.
Schubert, from Alta Loma, California, was an experienced BASE jumper, said Laird. He was taking part in West Virginia's annual Bridge Day festival, which typically draws an estimated 100,000 spectators and about 400 parachutists to the southern part of the state.
Lew Whitener, a newspaper photographer covering the event for the Register-Herald of Beckley, said it appeared the chute did not start to open until the man was about 25 feet (7.5 meters) above the water
<snip>
The fatality is the first since 1987 at the popular event. For one day a year, the National Park Service allows people to parachute off the world's second largest single-span bridge to the river below. To qualify to jump off the bridge, applicants must have skydived at least 50 times.
There were a total of 804 separate jumps between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., Laird said. Nearly 400 jumpers from 13 countries participated, and several minor injuries were reported. Laird said the jumping was allowed to continue because it did not appear weather was a factor in the accident
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/21/america/NA_GEN_US_Bridge_Day_Death.php
http://images.google.com/imgres?img...e+bridge&start=3&sa=X&oi=images&ct=image&cd=3