NY man, 70, and NJ man, 75, killed when parachutes tangle in Pennsylvania skydiving mishap

2 skydiving seniors die when chutes tangle in Pa.

PHILADELPHIA — A retired ironworker and a 70-year-old friend who had been skydiving together for years were killed when their parachutes got tangled during a weekend jump.

George Flynn, 75, of Colonia, N.J., had jumped approximately 1,500 times since learning to skydive about 16 years ago, his daughter, Diane Sievert, said Monday.

“This is how he lived his life — adventurously,” Sievert, of Old Bridge, N.J., told The Associated Press.

Flynn and Theodore Wilson, of New Rochelle, N.Y., were skydiving in the Pocono Mountains on Saturday when their parachutes got tangled and they tumbled about 75 feet to the ground, authorities said.

Wilson died on Saturday, Flynn on Sunday. A person who answered the phone at Wilson’s residence said the family had no comment.

The jump was organized by Sky’s the Limit skydiving at the Stroudsburg-Pocono Airport in East Stroudsburg, about 70 miles north of Philadelphia.

The company had no comment on Monday. Its Facebook page included a tribute to two “beautiful gentlemen, who Sky’s the Limit had the pleasure of knowing for many many years and were honored to be a part of their family.”

Sievert said her father learned to skydive and to pilot a plane after retiring as an ironworker based in Newark, N.J. He and Wilson met through skydiving and had made jumps together for years, she said.

Flynn, a father of four and grandfather of seven, jumped with two of his adult children a couple of years ago, Sievert said.

“He was a great man, great dad, great grandpa, great husband,” Sievert said.