By Greg Fry

Kamloops man dies in skydiving mishap

Jun 19, 2018 | 1:38 PM

CHICAGO — A man from Kamloops has died in a skydiving accident in Illinois.

68 year old Reginald Hurlbut died following a jump in Illinois last Friday.

He was a member of the Kamloops Skydiving Club and was in Illinois training with fellow club member and friend Danny Grant, who says the incident occurred in the town of Ottawa, about 100 miles east of Chicago.

He notes they were on the same jump training for a wingsuit world record attempt in November.

“At the end of the jump we were in free fall wearing our wingsuits — 46 of us were flying together — and before we had to deploy we all separate and deploy our parachute. And at some point between Reg’s parachute opening and him getting to the ground, something occurred that prevented him from landing his parachute safely. What that something is hasn’t been determined yet.”

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Grant says Hurlbut is “a legend in Kamloops” and will be sorely missed by all who knew him, but notes they’ll be going forward with the record attempt.

“It’s not going to stop us. Now we want it more. We want to do it for him.”

VIDEO: CFJC’s Adam Donnelly profiled Hurlbut in this piece from November, 2015.