Skydiver who died Saturday in Perry was well known at Pine Hill
PERRY – A veteran skydiver who died in an accident Saturday at Perry-Warsaw Airport was affiliated with Pine Hill Airport in Barre for many years.
Richard Cordero, 68, of Bergen ran Rochester Skydiving at Pine Hill for more than a decade. He left around 2014 when former airport owner Gene Haines decided to sell the airport.
News reports say Cordero, who had thousands of jumps to his credit, died when his parachute cords became tangled and he plummeted into a cornfield.
He was well-known in the Pine Hill area and was very dedicated to the sport of skydiving, said Ace Caldwell of Albion, a member of Pine Hill Airport for more than 30 years. Caldwell has cooked breakfast on Sunday mornings at the airport for decades, and he said Cordero’s wife would sometimes come in for breakfast, but if the weather was sunny, Richard was in the air.
