Sky Diver Died Seeking Publicity for His Chute

A would-be sky diver who hired two video cameramen to record his leap before making a fatal jump from a light plane over Nevada was a West German engineer who apparently was seeking publicity for a lightweight parachute he had invented, Las Vegas police said Thursday.

Hajo Harms, 36, was killed Oct. 6 when the chute he had hidden beneath his dinner jacket failed to open.

Without explanation, Harms had hired the cameramen and a notary public to accompany him on the nighttime plane ride. After the plane was airborne, Harms--without a word of warning--suddenly opened the cabin door of the rented plane and stepped out. At the time, the pilot, the two camera operators and the notary thought they had witnessed a suicide.

When the hidden chute failed to deploy, Harms plummeted 10,000 feet to his death on the desert floor, midway between Las Vegas and Boulder City.

Police later found a car registered to Harms parked nearby. Two flashlights were taped to the vehicle so that they would shine up into the sky as a beacon.

“He felt he could get a lot more publicity here than in West Germany,” Lt. Paul Conner of the Las Vegas Metro Police homicide division said. “He was right. He got a lot of publicity.”