Skydive site owner: Men didn't deploy parachutes

MIAMI (AP) - The co-owner of a facility where two Icelandic men died while skydiving says they did not deploy their main parachutes. 

T.K. Hayes of Skydive City in Zephyrhills says the men's equipment appeared to be working properly, although authorities are still investigating.

Automatic devices with backup chutes were activated and the devices were out of their containers, but Hayes says they didn't have time to inflate before impact.

The Pasco County sheriff's office identified the victims as 41-year-old instructor Orvar Arnarson and 25-year-old Andrimar Pordarson. The men jumped separately and were part of a group of about 12 from Iceland who visit annually.

The men did not return from their third jump of the day Saturday morning, setting off an hours-long investigation.

Their bodies were found in the woods near the Zephyrhills Municipal Airport.


 ZEPHYRHILLS – A daylong search for two missing skydivers ended with the discovery of their bodies Saturday night in a wooded area south of the Zephyrhills Municipal Airport.

The bodies of both skydivers, an instructor and a student, were found near each other in a wooded area off Yonkers Road, according to Pasco County sheriff's officials. They were spotted during an aerial search after having disappeared following a jump Saturday morning.

The men, both from Iceland, were a "very experienced" instructor who has done thousands of jumps and a student who was on his eighth skydive, said David T.K. Hayes, manager of Skydive City in Zephyrhills.

The missing jumpers were on a fully loaded plane of 22 skydivers who headed out amid conditions that were "on the windy side," Hayes said.

Jumpers who left the plane before and after the missing skydivers all made it to the ground safely, he said.

The group took off about 10 a.m. and Hayes said he notified authorities of the duo's absence about noon.

"When I get two hours into this, I'm calling the police," Hayes said. "I've been doing this 17 years and I've never had anyone missing for more than two hours."

The skydive center dispatched four searchers, including a person on the ground who specializes in "canopy hunting" – looking for skydivers' parachutes in trees and on land.

By mid-afternoon, searchers had combed areas about one mile to the south and southeast, Hayes said. They were looking in the area of a quarry as well as locations near the Hillsborough River. Searchers also investigated a privately owned 10,000-acre site south of Skydive City but found no one.

Initially, Skydive City searched using a skydiving plane – a De Havilland Otter – as well as a Cessna and two other private aircraft, said Ryan Lee, a Skydive City pilot.

"Thirty minutes (of searching) goes by, and then it goes to the next level of response," Lee said.

Video taken by other jumpers who left the plane before and after the missing skydivers was reviewed to see if it could provide clues about where to search. The men were not doing a tandem jump and Pasco County sheriff's deputies were uncertain Saturday whether their parachutes ever opened, agency spokeswoman Melanie Snow said.

The Sheriff's Office searched with a helicopter and deputies on all-terrain vehicles Saturday evening in a widespread area mostly south of Zephyrhills Municipal Airport, according to Snow.

One of the skydivers was wearing a white jumpsuit. The other was wearing a white and black jumpsuit. One of their parachutes is green and white, while the other one is blue and grey. 

ZEPHYRHILLS -- The bodies of two skydivers who were missing for hours have been found in a wooded area south of the Zephyrhills Municipal Airport just off Yonkers Road, the Pasco County Sheriff's Office said today.

 Deputies searched for more than four hours before finding the bodies of an instructor and a student, which were near each other.  The bodies were found about 7:30 p.m., the sheriff's office said.

The two men, who were with a group of 20 others, jumped at about 10:30 a.m. No one knows if their parachutes opened, authorities said.

Everybody who jumped before and after the pair made it safely to the ground, said T.K. Hayes, co-owner of Skydive City.

Hayes said in the 17 years he has been in the business, he never has known anyone to go missing for more than a couple of hours.

"We're just mystified by the whole thing," he said before the bodies were found.

Deputies searched by air and on the ground for the men.

The two men jumped separately, authorities said. Their names are not being released pending notification of next of kin.