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Yes, a concealable parachute system was designed for the James Bond character and his nemesis. The exact movie title escapes me. However, it was only concealable to the movie patron's eye. A high degree of parachute rigging skill would be needed to set this rig up safely and then a high degree of freefall skill would be required to successfully jump from an aircraft and operate such a system.

Also, this pilot would have to have been very unaware of his student, for him not to notice a rig under his students clothing, unless... temperatures dictated bulky clothing. Then, just maybe, an undercover rig could be kept a secret. Obtaining an undercover rig would be the long shot, meaning, of the type used in the movies.

However, some acrobatic aircraft emergency parachute systems are very streamlined (thin), and they could be hidden with a little ingenuity. One would have to be adept at removing the outer garments covering up said rig while in freefall. If this actually occurred, I would bet on an acrobatic rig. The unique rigs designed for the movies are too few in number to be in circulation. Unless stolen...

The fact that there was a significant amount of altitude reached by this aircraft in it's flight, offers a faint, very faint, degree of substantiating evidence regarding the theory that it was an escape rather than a suicide.

It is possible that this individual did alight from the aircraft with an escape plan, however, unless there was a freefall background, I would venture a guess that said jumper made about a 12" to 18" crater in the ground.

Pure speculation on my part because it ultimately would depend on the motivation factor. How bad did this person want to escape, and, how bad did this person want to live, or... how bad did this person want to die ?

Without a freefall table in front of me, based on past experiences, I would say our swooper enjoyed about 50 seconds of freefall prior to impact. Exiting an aircraft at 7,500' would net a jumper about 30 seconds of freefall, with a parachute opening at 2,000'. From 10,500' a jumper would net about 45 seconds of freefall time. This averages out to about 37.5 seconds of freefall time from 9,000' to 2,000'. In addition, another 12 seconds of freefall time would occur from 2,000' until impact, for a grand total of 49.5 seconds of freefall time, give or take a few seconds depending on the jumpers body position.

(I think that was "Moonraker", where JB follows somebody ("Jaws"?) out of a doomed plane.)

I heard on the radio news this morning that he undid his seat belt and jumped. Can't find any links to it, though.

The Houston Chronicle is now reporting that they've found the body.

Skydiving ping!