A skydiving expert’s chilling final words were captured on camera as he realised he had jumped from a plane without his parachute.
Ivan McGuire, 35, was filming a parachuting lesson at 10,000 ft after the plane took off from Franklin County Sports Parachute Centre in North Carolina in 1988.
McGuire, who had completed over 800 successful jumps before this tragic incident, filmed his death as he fell from the sky. It was his third jump of the day.
It appears that he reached to pull his parachute – which wasn’t there – over and over as he plummeted toward the Earth.
His devastating last words caught on the recording were: “Oh my god, no!”
READ MORE: Fears of fentanyl epidemic in UK as deaths soar in US
McGuire’s body was later discovered in the woods about one and a half miles from the airfield he had taken off from.
At the time, an investigation was launched into whether pilot Mark Luman had checked if McGuire was wearing a parachute.
FAA inspector Walter Rigsbee stated: “There is a regulation, No. 105, that states that no one may jump unless the pilot checks the parachutes.”
Nancy Fayard, the wife of the parachute centre’s boss Paul Fayard, said: “No one was aware that he got on the plane without a parachute. Of course, no one knew or they would have stopped him.”
The incident was found to be a tragic mistake – McGuire forgot his parachute, leading to an accidental death. Investigators ruled out suicide or homicide.
It’s thought he might have confused his camera gear for his parachute due to the similar weight of the items.
An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story.
