Nashville tandem skydiving instructor dies, student rescued

A skydiving instructor was found dead and a student was rescued after a tandem jump went wrong on Oct. 4 in a wooded area off Ashland City Highway in Nashville, officials said. Metro Nashville police and the Nashville Fire Department responded after witnesses reported a skydiver in distress; authorities later located a 35-year-old instructor deceased in a clearing and another jumper suspended in a tree with an open parachute.

Firefighters said the student remained stuck in the tree for several hours before crews used a ladder and pulley system to free him from the harness. He was helped down and described as awake, alert and in stable condition; he was taken to a hospital as a precaution, the fire department said. Police said the pair had been attached as part of a tandem rig, a parachute system that straps a student to an instructor, and that the instructor is believed to have fallen without a parachute.

Three other skydivers who jumped with the group landed safely, and the aircraft returned to Tune Airport in Nashville, authorities said. The instructor’s identity is being withheld pending notification of next of kin. Go Skydive Nashville, the company involved in the jump, said...