A Tennessee skydiver died Saturday after landing awkwardly during the grand opening of a new skydiving operation at the Russellville-Logan County Airport.

Daniel Kopko, 33, of Hendersonville, Tenn., died of internal injuries at Logan Memorial Hospital sometime after noon Saturday, according to Detective Jim Ray of the Logan County Sheriff’s Office.

Kopko was the first of six skydivers to jump out of a Cessna from an altitude of 13,000 feet, according to Jim Moore, owner of Skydive Kentucky, which was holding the grand opening of its Russellville operation during a “drive-in/fly-in” event at the airport.

Moore said six jumpers did a group exit from the plane and performed a six-person formation before the accident occurred. Ray said Kopko’s parachute opened properly and on time, but that he later experienced trouble controlling his descent.

Moore, who described Kopko as an experienced jumper with more than 1,000 skydives to his credit, said one of Kopko’s steering lines slipped out of his hand during the jump and he lost control of the chute.

“Daniel was a competent skydiver, and (he was in a position that) was unrecoverable,” said Moore, who jumped with Kopko in the past.

Ray said “a large number” of attendees at the event witnessed the accident, which occurred just before noon. Ray said Kopko landed on a grassy area on the airport property.

“Best we can guess, from about 50 to 100 feet up in the air, witnesses said he started having trouble with his chute,” Ray said. “At that time he had trouble controlling the chute, and when he hit the ground, he hit the ground bad, hard, not at a good angle.”

Moore said Skydive Kentucky – with corporate offices in Greensburg and a skydiving operation in Elizabethtown – recently established a new skydiving operation in Russellville. Saturday’s accident forced the cancellation of the remainder of the event at the airport, but it will not prevent the business from proceeding with its plans in Russellville.

Moore said the word “exhibition” has been used to describe the skydive that took place Saturday, a term he objects to.

“Everybody seems to think it was a one-time event,” Moore said. “We’re a business, not some thing that comes into town with a carnival atmosphere and leaves.”

Ray said two representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration were on site at the event and assisted the Logan County Sheriff’s Office with the investigation.