Police: Missing skydiver likely hasn't survived
SEATTLE (AP) - The search for a wing suit-wearing skydiver in the Washington Cascade foothills will continue by helicopter as the weather allows, but officials don't expect to find him alive.
No one saw a parachute Thursday, and if Kurt Ruppert, 29, of Lake City, Fla., survived the jump and was caught in a tree or lost in the forest, he likely died of hypothermia, a King County sheriff's sergeant said.
"We just don't think he survived at this point," Sgt. Cindi West said Monday.
Dozens of searchers were out four days "calling and calling," West said. "If he survived he wasn't conscious enough to yell to us."
It snowed Thursday night and temperatures have been in the 30s and 40s around Mount Si, a steep and heavily forested 4,200-foot peak about 30 miles east of Seattle.
Searchers covered 9 square miles before the ground search was suspended Sunday. Fog on Monday prevented a helicopter search.
Ruppert was taking turns with two friends who were waiting at the grassy landing zone when he jumped out of a helicopter at 6,500 feet and disappeared.
The webbed wing suit allows a skydiver to glide at up to 100 miles per hour, so Ruppert could have covered a lot of ground, West said.
Friends in Florida say Ruppert had been skydiving seven or eight years and was experienced in a wing suit.
There's a record of Ruppert's cellphone signal until he went up in the air and jumped or shut it off, West said. That information led to an extensive search of a quarter-square mile area, which found no sign of him.
Outlying areas where Ruppert might have landed are heavily wooded or mountain cliffs.
Ruppert carried a blue parachute in a black pack. He was dressed in a tan and green wing suit, which would make him hard to spot in the woods.
Friends of Ruppert's were with ground searchers over the weekend, but did not want to talk with reporters, West said.
"People that are out there are having a little memorial today on the mountain," said a friend in Florida, Skydive Palatka owner Art Shaffer.
"There's a lot of sad people here," he said Monday.
No one saw a parachute Thursday, and if Kurt Ruppert, 29, of Lake City, Fla., survived the jump and was caught in a tree or lost in the forest, he likely died of hypothermia, a King County sheriff's sergeant said.
"We just don't think he survived at this point," Sgt. Cindi West said Monday.
Dozens of searchers were out four days "calling and calling," West said. "If he survived he wasn't conscious enough to yell to us."
It snowed Thursday night and temperatures have been in the 30s and 40s around Mount Si, a steep and heavily forested 4,200-foot peak about 30 miles east of Seattle.
Searchers covered 9 square miles before the ground search was suspended Sunday. Fog on Monday prevented a helicopter search.
Ruppert was taking turns with two friends who were waiting at the grassy landing zone when he jumped out of a helicopter at 6,500 feet and disappeared.
The webbed wing suit allows a skydiver to glide at up to 100 miles per hour, so Ruppert could have covered a lot of ground, West said.
Friends in Florida say Ruppert had been skydiving seven or eight years and was experienced in a wing suit.
There's a record of Ruppert's cellphone signal until he went up in the air and jumped or shut it off, West said. That information led to an extensive search of a quarter-square mile area, which found no sign of him.
Outlying areas where Ruppert might have landed are heavily wooded or mountain cliffs.
Ruppert carried a blue parachute in a black pack. He was dressed in a tan and green wing suit, which would make him hard to spot in the woods.
Friends of Ruppert's were with ground searchers over the weekend, but did not want to talk with reporters, West said.
"People that are out there are having a little memorial today on the mountain," said a friend in Florida, Skydive Palatka owner Art Shaffer.
"There's a lot of sad people here," he said Monday.
He is now One with his Environment!
This would be a good way to disappear and start over, if that is what he wanted to do! Just wondering...
I'll take that bet....
Maybe it is time to start making those little Go Pro cameras with a satelite beacon?
"Friends in Florida say Ruppert had been skydiving seven or eight years and was experienced in a wing suit."
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But he was not experienced with the crazy NW weather that we have.Â
Staying warm in a cave hosted by bigfoot?
He's now a transplant from Florida.
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That is just unfortunate!
You would think that anyone doing something like this would go out of their way to be VISIBLE. Lights, fluorescent colors, whatever it takes, especially given the terrain and weather possibilities. It's sad he hasn't been found, but if his example saves another from making the same mistake and surviving, then it's somehow worth it.
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Condolences to his friends and family.
He's alive and well, living with DB Cooper.
There is a big difference squirrel flying in flat Florida vrs. mountainous Washington.. Well alligators or mountain lions I guess you have to make your choice.
He may have been a really nice guy, etc. He may even have scored a reasonably high IQ. But flirting with disaster also indicates little common sense. Putting it in Darwinesque terms, he's unlikely to be passing on his genes, which is good for the future of our species.
Good video of guy's using a flying squirrel type of suit in China. Note how fast they fly by the cliffs. I don't think there would be much left to look for:-(
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http://player.vimeo.com/video/31481531?autoplay=1
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It's about a minute and fifteen seconds in before the excitement.
Did anyone care to ask the group why they didn't use the helicopter he just jumped out of to spot the jump and then when he disappeared use that helicopter to got to the area in which he vanished?  You had a valuable piece of hardware that could have located him immediately and at the very least gotten coordinates for a ground crew to go in on.
Well it's too bad this happened....but afterall...."he died doing what he loved best"....sounds to me like he might not have had to considering what he was wearing, and being from Florida? No mention if he's been up this way before and knows of the weather and such.
be strong, don't lose hope, people have come back from things you'd be far less likely to survive. the police can't keep searching forever but that doesn't mean he's gone
Why on earth would this guy from Florida come up to the NW during winter to do this?
"Ruppert carried a blue parachute in a black pack. He was dressed in a tan and green wing suit,"
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Not very good decision making to use these colors.....and pretty loose protocols as well, do these guys think that bad things won't happen in such a high risk sport?
 @deejm2112 An Alaskan search and rescue crewman lamented to me one time about having too look for white and green airplanes in the forest. Torn white metal looks like snow, and bare metal looks like ice or reflecting water. His opinion was that all aircraft should be cub yellow, bright orange, red or some other obvious color. There used to be a guy flying a camoflage ultralight over Estacada where flight students practiced.Â
Ya think?
Police are just stating the obvious. Some hunter or hiker will find him decades form now and the mystery will be solved.
 @RalphCramden My bet is he'll never be found, Not hitting at that speed (assuming his chute never opened).
 @deejm2112Â
You might be right. Plus the wild animals are already carting off parts.
 @mikeyb123  @deejm2112Â
It's not a pretty thought but it is reality and part of the cycle of life.
 @RalphCramden  @deejm2112 This comment made me chuckle and mad at the same time. Well played Ralph...well played.
 @deejm2112  @RalphCramden In addition to this (good) point is that if your chute fails, it really doesn't make a difference where you are or what the climate is like. I just have a bad suspicion that he got blown into a tree and is still hung up in the canopy somewhere.
seems like a poor time of year for that type of activity.
 @randola I would think the beautiful snow would be a plus...