Authorities have found the body of a Texas man who is thought to have jumped from a Cessna 152 last Sunday. Authorities say Russell Filler wasn’twearing a parachute when he exited the plane from 9,000 feet near Waller, Texas, leaving a startled flight instructor, Benito Munoz, alone in the cockpit. Munoz said Filler asked him to bank the aircraft steeply before he apparently slipped out of his seatbelt and opened the door. By the time Munoz looked over at the noise, all he saw were Filler’s feet leaving the aircraft. Filler reportedly was about to be charged with theft for having a NASA laptop computer, which he said he had bought second-hand. He worked as an engineer for a NASA subcontractor. There was no sensitive information on the computer. Authorities said they don’t know if the circumstances are linked.
NOTE: A similar incident occurred two years ago in California. Read AVweb’s coverage here.
