MARYLAND HEIGHTS • Jonathan Bullar enjoyed action.

A motorcycle enthusiast, Bullar, 24, had participated in motocross events. Recently, he took up skydiving.

"He just loved those kinds of things," Darrell Bullar, his father, said Sunday.

On his third jump late Saturday afternoon from an airfield in Vandalia, Ill., he fell to his death.

Authorities said Bullar, of Maryland Heights, died in a jump from an altitude of 6,500 feet.

He was pronounced dead in a soybean field about half-mile northwest of Vandalia Municipal Airport, about 60 miles east of St. Louis.

The case remains under investigation. Darrell Bullar said his son's parachute did not open properly, but he had no more details. He said his son went on the outing with a cousin.

Jonathan Bullar was the oldest of five children of Darrell and Gina Bullar of Maryland Heights. He was a graduate of Pattonville High School and worked for a tree service owned by relatives.

His father said Bullar had gone on five or six parachute jumps before Saturday.

Fayette County, Ill., Coroner Bruce Bowen pronounced him dead at 6:53 p.m. Saturday. Bowen said he spoke with several others who made jumps with Bullar that afternoon, but none of them saw his fall. The Illinois State Police also is investigating the case.

Bullar jumped from an airplane operated by Archway Skydiving Center, which flies from the Vandalia airport. Jason Mark, owner of Archway Skydiving, said he couldn't comment on the details of the accident because it was under investigation.

"We are all very upset by this tragic event," Mark said.

Funeral arrangements are pending.