--- title: Veteran Skydiver Dies After Jump in North Carolina description: A 24-year-old skydiver with more than 1,800 parachute jumps under his belt died Saturday following a jump in North Carolina canonical: https://time.com/4183861/sky-dive-accident-north-carolina/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-17T21:19:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T09:06:38.760Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Veteran Skydiver Dies After Jump in North Carolina og:description: He was a former Marine og:url: https://time.com/4183861/sky-dive-accident-north-carolina/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Veteran Skydiver Dies After Jump in North Carolina twitter:description: He was a former Marine twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Veteran Skydiver Dies After Jump in North Carolina  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Jan 17, 2016 9:19 PM CUT  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Jan 17, 2016 9:19 PM CUT A 24-year-old skydiver with more than 1,800 parachute jumps under his belt [died Saturday following a jump](http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/man-dies-hard-landing-north-carolina-skydive-36344242 "undefined") in North Carolina. James Stremmel was a former Marine and an experienced instructor at the Triangle Skydiving Center, where he died after a rough landing during his second or third jump of the day, the center’s owner Gregory Upper told [WRAL](http://www.wral.com/one-killed-in-franklin-county-parachute-accident/15241492/ "undefined"). “He was setting up for landing and had a problem with the parachute,” Upper said. “We don’t know anything at that point, and he had a hard landing.” “His whole life was skydiving. This is what he did — skydive,” Upper added. “He was planning to skydive all over the world.” Stremmel’s sister told [ABC 11](http://abc13.com/news/native-houstonian-killed-in-parachute-accident-in-north-carolina/1161923/ "undefined") the sudden loss has shocked the family. “This was not at all expected,” sister Megan Stremmel said. “The family is holding up as best as possible . . . He was a great guy.” Deputies and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the death, including whether his parachute deployed properly, according to the Associated Press. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4183861/sky-dive-accident-north-carolina/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4183861/sky-dive-accident-north-carolina/"},"headline":"Veteran Skydiver Dies After Jump in North Carolina","datePublished":"2016-01-17T21:19:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T09:06:38.760Z","description":"\"We don't know anything at that point, and he had a hard landing\"","url":"https://time.com/4183861/sky-dive-accident-north-carolina/","keywords":["North Carolina"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4183861/sky-dive-accident-north-carolina/","name":"Veteran Skydiver Dies After Jump in North Carolina"}}]}] ```