Thousands watch jumper’s death as chute fails to open

FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. – Thousands of people watched a parachutist jump to his death from a bridge during a popular festival Saturday when his chute opened too late, a sheriff said.

Brian Lee Schubert, 66, died of injuries suffered when he hit the New River, 876 feet below the New River Gorge Bridge, officials said. After the man’s body was recovered and taken to a local funeral home, jumping at the festival resumed, said Fayette County Sheriff Bill Laird.

Schubert, from Alta Loma, Calif., was an experienced BASE jumper, said Laird. He was taking part in West Virginia’s annual Bridge Day festival, which typically draws an estimated 100,000 spectators and about 400 parachutists to the southern part of the state.

Lew Whitener, a newspaper photographer covering the event for the Register-Herald of Beckley, said it appeared the chute didn’t start to open until the man was about 25 feet above the water.

“Everybody kind of held their breath then an eerie silence afterward. Everybody kind of looked at each other and said ‘Wow,’ ” Whitener said.

A large rock obscured the crowd’s view of the man’s body hitting the water, Whitener said.

The fatality is the first since 1987 at the popular event. For one day a year, the National Park Service allows people to parachute off the world’s second largest single-span bridge to the national river below. To qualify to jump off the bridge, applicants must have skydived at least 50 times. The sport of BASE jumping involves parachuting off buildings, antennas, spans and earth.