Skydiving seniors die when chutes tangle

Photo / Wikipedia

PHILADELPHIA - A retired ironworker and a 70-year-old friend who had been skydiving together for years were killed when their parachutes got tangled during a weekend jump.

George Flynn, 75, of Colonia, New Jersey, had jumped approximately 1,500 times since learning to skydive about 16 years ago, his daughter, Diane Sievert, said Monday.

"This is how he lived his life - adventurously," Sievert said.

Flynn and Theodore Wilson, of New Rochelle, New York, were skydiving in the Pocono Mountains on Saturday after their parachutes got tangled and they tumbled about 75 feet (23 meters) to the ground, authorities said.

Wilson died on Saturday, Flynn on Sunday. A person who answered the phone at Wilson's residence said the family had no comment.

The jump was organised by Sky's the Limit skydiving, located about 112 kilometres north of Philadelphia.

The company had no comment on Monday. Its Facebook page included a tribute to two "beautiful gentlemen, who Sky's the Limit had the pleasure of knowing for many many years and were honoured to be a part of their family."

Sievert said her father learned to skydive and to pilot a plane after retiring as an ironworker. He and Wilson met through skydiving and had made jumps together for years, she said.

- AP