KALISPELL, Mont.—Officials have released the name of a Colorado man who died in a parachuting accident during a festival in northwestern Montana.
Garl “Mike” Newby, 57, of Colorado Springs died Wednesday near Marion after his main parachute became entangled with another man’s chute.
Officials said Newby did not have enough time to deploy his reserve chute after he removed his main chute.
The surviving jumper was able to remove his main chute and deploy his reserve parachute, according to a sheriff’s report.
Flathead County Coroner Geno Cook said Newby was living in Glenwood Springs before he died and had a home and family in Colorado Springs.
Fred Sand, owner of Skydive Lost Prairie, described Newby as a “very, very experienced skydiver.”
“He had probably been coming up here for 10-plus years if not more,” said Sand, whose company hosts the Skydive Lost Prairie Boogie, a 10-day festival that is one of the largest of its kind in the nation.
Newby jumped at 13,000 feet with a group of other skydivers, said Sheriff Mike Meehan. They came together in a falling formation then broke away to deploy their parachutes.
Newby had completed more than 4,000 jumps all over the world, his brother, Keith Newby, told The Gazette in Colorado Springs on Thursday. His closest friends were skydiving buddies, he added.
“This is what he lived for,” Keith Newby said. “As unfortunate as it was, it was probably how he would like to go.”
Newby was a supervisor for the Colorado Department of Transportation and was stationed in Glenwood Springs for the last five years.
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With information from: The Gazette,
