August 5th, 2013
06:37 AM ET

Skydiver dies, another critically injured

Two by two, the tandem skydivers leapt into the clouds over southern Mississippi, a routine plunge from thousands of feet in the air.

James "Jimmie" Horak Jr. and his student were the last out of the plane Saturday morning. A videographer captured the moment when the veteran instructor opened his parachute, shifting a rapid freefall into a slow descent.

But something tragic happened in the final seconds of the drop. Horak, 66, and his student never landed at the airport where they were supposed to.

Instead, Horak's body was found in heavy mud in a swampy wooded area about a mile from the airport in Lumberton, Lamar County's sheriff said.

FULL STORY
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Filed under: Mississippi • U.S.
soundoff (12 Responses)
  1. Hamsta

    Saw the headline, woke my brother up out of bed just to make sure it wasn't him, he's a skydiving instructor! Imagine that, I fall 30 feet, crack my nogin, shatter my rib cage, collapse my spine and visit the spirit world so my brother decides he wants to jump out of perfectly functioning airplanes. I met the reaper at 30 feet so my brother decides to multiply that by a factor of 1,000 and do it for fun.

    August 5, 2013 at 7:17 am | Report abuse |
  2. Joey Isotta-Fraschini ©™

    More illustrious press from my home state...a lad, a year or two younger than I, grew up to pleasure jump with a parachute that failed over a different county. He survived with damage.

    August 5, 2013 at 9:23 am | Report abuse |
  3. chrissy

    So WHAT exactly went wrong with THIS jump @ cnn? You just kinda left us hanging, no pun intended, with this story.

    August 5, 2013 at 10:05 am | Report abuse |
    • bobcat (in a hat)©

      I went on to read the full story and it said all they know right now is that the main chute was cut away and the backup chute was deployed. Beyond that, it is all speculation.

      August 5, 2013 at 11:17 am | Report abuse |
  4. BOMBO

    They say it's rare, but I knew somebody who died skydiving. Primary chute didn't open. He must have panicked, no attempt to open reserve chute, from what they could tell.

    August 5, 2013 at 12:51 pm | Report abuse |
  5. chrissy

    Ty @ bobcat and BOMBO, i read that also. My point was how they ended this story here.

    August 5, 2013 at 12:57 pm | Report abuse |
  6. saywhat

    I feel sad for these two skydivers. Tragic end to a sporting adventure.

    August 5, 2013 at 1:38 pm | Report abuse |
  7. TvNyC

    Skydiving is stupid and pointless! This shouldn't be news.

    August 5, 2013 at 1:50 pm | Report abuse |
  8. chrissy

    @ TvNyC, different strokes for different folks. Some ppl think blogging is pointless also. And @ least this man went out in the way that obviously made him the happiest and i applaud him for living his dream. Many of us dont have the guts ya know.

    August 5, 2013 at 4:06 pm | Report abuse |
  9. Jeff Frank (R-Ohio) "Right Wing Insanity"

    Oh..by the way. Those are statistics for one year.

    August 5, 2013 at 5:44 pm | Report abuse |
  10. TvNyC

    Some dreams are just dumb!

    August 5, 2013 at 8:02 pm | Report abuse |
  11. chrissy

    Well yea i guess you're right in a wierd kinda way. Lol

    August 5, 2013 at 8:29 pm | Report abuse |
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