Overview

• Metro Nashville police say the instructor became separated from a tandem rig at the aircraft and was later found deceased in a wooded clearing off Ashland City Highway.
• Local media identified the instructor as Justin Robert Fuller, 35, of Murfreesboro, who was described as highly experienced with more than 5,000 jumps.
• The 46-year-old student’s reserve deployed, leaving him about 50 feet up in a tree for hours before firefighters used ladders and a pulley to bring him down; he was taken to a hospital as a precaution.
• Preliminary accounts indicate the harness may have caught on the plane’s edge during exit, and equipment recovered with the student did not appear broken, according to local reports.
• The jump was coordinated by Go Skydive Nashville, which says it is cooperating with authorities; the FAA is investigating, and some outlets report the NTSB’s involvement.