Holy shit. First-time parachutist jumps to death after cutting own cords

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2006/May/theworld_May19.xml§ion=theworld

LONDON - A man on his first parachute jump cut the lines of his chute after jumping from an aircraft in eastern England and plunged 3,500 feet (1,000 metres) to his death, a newspaper and police said on Monday.

Police said an investigation had been launched into the death of David Crowcroft, 27, but they were not treating the incident as suspicious.

The man was said to be behaving normally before exiting the light aircraft, which had taken off from Old Buckenham Airfield, in Norfolk, The Times reported.

Once his parachute opened automatically, however, Crowcroft took off his helmet, which had a built-in radio to speak to his instructor on the ground, and threw it away, it said.

[MissB]

1. The bridge wasn't high enough?

:shrug:

[beyurslf]

6. But if he jumped off a bridge, would we read about it?

People the world over will hear about his death now. Kind of a sick messed up way to "fame."

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. That is horrifying!

Obviously, he was suicidal, and managed to hide it from everyone until he had jumped.....

I think he REALLY wanted to die, and very publicly as well....

Horrible......:cry:

[GOPFighter]

3. OK, I'm guessing suicide here

Ever since Bush was elected I've been having the same impulses...

[NNN0LHI]

4. You are guessing suicide here? Good guess

Because it definitely was not Spontaneous Combustion.

Don

[Jazz2006]

5. Yeah, the garden shears kind of give it away.

Strange way to kill oneself, though.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

7. There was another probable suicide by parachute jump about a year ago

The police thought for quite a while that the guy's parachute had been sabataged to prevent it opening, but were never able to find any real evidence for that so began to suspect suicide. IIRC the inquest gave an open verdict.