Empty parachute not an accident; skydiver had to use backup

GARDINER, N.Y. (AP) - The discovery of an empty parachute near an upstate New York skydiving business caused some alarm for local authorities.

The Times Herald-Record of Middletown reports (https://bit.ly/2w0CGcA ) that someone reported seeing an empty parachute early Wednesday afternoon in the Ulster County town of Gardiner.

State police and local emergency crews responded to the rural area where the parachute was spotted, but it turned out there was no accident.

Joseph Richards, a co-owner of the Skydive the Ranch complex in Gardiner, said a skydiver had jettisoned his main parachute at about 4,000 feet and landed safely with his emergency chute.

He says skydivers at his business have to switch to a backup chute about “once or twice a week.”