A man died while parachuting at a skydiving club in Durban, the Parachute Association of SA said on Monday.
Gareth Vaughan, 56, did his first static line parachute descent on Sunday around 9am, Pasa's national safety and training officer Mark Bellingan said in a statement.
In a static line jump a cord attached to the plane deploys the skydiver's parachute. His parachute opened normally and he was initially seen steering the canopy. About 450m above the ground he made a turn to the west of the airfield.
"He was observed flying to the west of the airfield and away from the landing area. No attempt to change the direction of the flight path was observed," said Bellingan.
Vaughan flew over the brow of a hill before landing inside an isolated fenced-off area. He was declared dead on the scene. A post mortem would be conducted to determine the cause of death.
