Ivan McGuire was an experienced skydiver with over 800 jumps under his belt when he made his third jump of the day on April 2, 1988. He was said to be excited about filming a parachuting lesson at 10,000 feet in the air. He grabbed his camera to film a student and instructor from the Franklin County Sports Parachute Center in Franklinton, NC. Little did he know he would be filming his own demise. His footage captured the haunting few moments before he made impact with the ground. It appears that he reached to pull his parachute as the ground got closer, but that’s when the terrifying realization hit: He had jumped without a parachute. The final words the 35-year-old said on the recording were: “Oh my god, No!” His body was later found in the woods around a mile and a half from the airfield. At the time, pilot Mark Luman was investigated to see if he had checked to see if McGuire was wearing a parachute. FAA inspector Walter Rigsbee pointed out that there’s an FAA regulation that states that no one may jump unless the pilot checks the parachute. The parachute center’s owner said no one was aware that McGuire had gotten on the plane without a parachute or he would have been stopped. The FAA ruled out foul play and suicide, saying McGuire had simply forgotten his parachute, which caused his accidental death.
