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COLUMBIA, S.C. Strapped to his dying instructor a few thousand feet from the ground on his first skydive, Daniel Pharr found himself floating toward a house and some trees.
The military taught the 25-year-old soldier not to panic. And TV taught him to pull the toggles on the already-deployed parachute to steer.
So Pharr grabbed the right handle and pulled to avoid the house and tugged again to miss the trees, landing safely in a field about a third of a mile from their intended landing spot.
Pharr said he wrestled out of the harness binding him to his instructor, George "Chip" Steele, and started CPR trying to save him from an apparent heart attack.
Steele was later pronounced dead, but the tragedy could have been worse: Other instructors at the skydiving school told Pharr if he had pulled the toggle too hard, the chute would have spun out of control, and he could be dead, too.
After paramedics arrived and stepped in to diagnose Steele, Pharr asked them to call his girlfriend, Jessica Brunson, and mother, who was watching from the air strip.
Pharr's mother said all they knew at the time was from a brief message on another staffer's radio: A tandem pair was down and it didn't look good.
Huggins said she asked the Lord to keep her son safe. "I just give the glory to God. He was just covered with that hedge of protection that us mamas pray for," she said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090202/ap_on_re_us/skydiver_death
The military taught the 25-year-old soldier not to panic. And TV taught him to pull the toggles on the already-deployed parachute to steer.
So Pharr grabbed the right handle and pulled to avoid the house and tugged again to miss the trees, landing safely in a field about a third of a mile from their intended landing spot.
Pharr said he wrestled out of the harness binding him to his instructor, George "Chip" Steele, and started CPR trying to save him from an apparent heart attack.
Steele was later pronounced dead, but the tragedy could have been worse: Other instructors at the skydiving school told Pharr if he had pulled the toggle too hard, the chute would have spun out of control, and he could be dead, too.
After paramedics arrived and stepped in to diagnose Steele, Pharr asked them to call his girlfriend, Jessica Brunson, and mother, who was watching from the air strip.
Pharr's mother said all they knew at the time was from a brief message on another staffer's radio: A tandem pair was down and it didn't look good.
Huggins said she asked the Lord to keep her son safe. "I just give the glory to God. He was just covered with that hedge of protection that us mamas pray for," she said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090202/ap_on_re_us/skydiver_death
