By ANN GIBBONS
Freeman staff
agibbons@freemanonline.com; twitter.com/AnnAtFreeman

PLATTEKILL, N.Y. — A father of three children who died in a skydiving accident Friday in Plattekill was buried on Father’s Day.

Funeral services were held Sunday at 11:30 a.m. for David Winoker, 49, of Chappaqua at Temple Shaaray Tefila in Bedford Corners.

Winoker and his instructor, Alexander Chulsky, 25, of Brooklyn, were jumping in tandem on Friday around 4 p.m. when the accident occurred, according to Plattekill Police Chief Joseph Ryan.

Ryan said the pair crashed to the ground on Hurd’s Farm on state Route 32 near Modena.

Winoker was skydiving as part of a friend’s 50th birthday celebration, Ryan said. Skydive the Ranch of Gardiner organized the skydive, he said. Owner Joseph Richards did not return phone calls.

Ryan on Sunday said investigators are not exactly certain what happened, but said witnesses on the ground said a parachute malfunction seemed to have occurred after the men jumped from the plane.

“Witnesses told us that the chutes were spiraling, in a corkscrew pattern, then the men struck the ground,” Ryan said.

Ryan said both men were taken to St. Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie where they succumbed to their injuries.

“Emergency medical personnel were working at the scene and we were hopeful of a different outcome,” Ryan said.

Ryan said the accident has been reported to the Federal Aviation Administration, which will conduct an investigation. He said police confiscated both parachutes at the scene. Continued...

• 1
• 2
• See Full Story

Winoker leaves his wife, Jillian Spitalnick, and three children. Further information on Chulsky was not available.

• 1
• 2
• See Full Story

• 1
• 2
• 3
• See Full Story

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• See Full Story

• Return to Paging Mode