A skydiving instructor died in a plane crash - then his fearless mum jumped from 14,000ft to spread his ashes.

Charles Mather Jr, 37, was one of three people on board a plane that crashed while over a rugged area in Rutherford County, North Carolina, US.

Alongside pilot Adam Plummer and fellow skydiving instructor Scott George, Charles was flying back to Rutherford Airport, North Carolina, from Johnson County, Tennessee where he was doing a skydiving instruction session.

But it is believed that bad weather conditions caused the plane to crash less than 30 minutes after take off, on July 7.

His mum, Sharon Vasey, 69, said her son was fulfilling his dream of being a skydiving instructor and underwent years of training to fulfil that goal.

Incredibly Sharon skydived herself, spreading his ashes during the jump, at a memorial day for the trio, on August 11.

Sharon, from Leicester, UK, said: "I went up 14,000 feet in the air that day, I wasn't scared - I wanted to do this for my son."

"What better way for a mother to jump out of a plane and spread her son's ashes."

"It was an amazing day, there were 300 skydivers and every single one of them came up to me telling me how much they loved my son."

"My son had this amazing effect on people, it was overwhelming and filled me with emotions."

Charles, born in Las Vegas, Nevada, worked as a top chef in London, Australia and the British Virgin Islands before retraining as a skydiving instructor in 2018.

He trained for two years to become fully qualified and in October 2023, took his mum for her first-ever skydive, at Skydive Mountain City, Tennessee.

Sharon said: "Charles said 'mum you're doing a skydive with me' - I was secretly terrified."

"We went up in the plane, we were up there and he said 'mum you're safe with me, I love you' and then he pushed me out."

"It was totally exhilarating, we were free-falling at 130mph - we were over the Appalachian mountains."

"It was awesome, we eventually landed and all I wanted was a brandy."

After a memorable trip, he waved her goodbye at the airport, and Sharon flew home.

"When Charles put me on the plane to come home to England, I had this weird feeling that I would never see him again, "Sharon said."

On July 7, 2024, Charles was part of a team of three who had been contracted to fly to Johnson County, Tennessee.

It is believed that on the way back, the team were flying over a rugged area in Rutherford County before it crashed into a mountain killing everyone on board.

An investigation is still being carried out to determine the cause of the crash.

The next day, one of his friends called Sharon to break the news.

Sharon said: "I answered the FaceTime call and Linda - owner of Skydive Mountain City Tennessee - started crying."

"She went 'I am so sorry' and I just knew. I thought it was a parachute accident but she told me it was a plane crash."

"You can't help but think what his last thoughts were. He had such a future ahead of him - this was totally unexpected."

"The last words he said to me was 'mum, I am 37, I want stability in my life, I want wife, I want kids and I want to buy a property.'"

On August 11, 2024, Sharon joined hundreds of people at a memorial at Skydive Carolina to remember the three men who died.

Sharon said it was "totally overwhelming" and a day "filled with emotions"."

She said: "I've had so many messages from around the world, friends telling me how much love and respect he gave them."

"If you could have felt what it was like when he entered a room - he was so polite and amazing."

"He had so much to offer the word, which is devastating to think about."

Before his death, Charles launched 'Don't F**king Die', along with Jake and Nathan, from Arcana Innovation, a movement championing awareness about mental health issues such as PTSD, suicide and addiction.

He later joined forces with Stay Stokedd - which aims to restore the bonds of brotherhood and rekindle the spirit of adventure for veterans through the power of extreme sports.

Since his death, Sharon got the initials 'DFD' tattooed on her arm and wants to continue to raise awareness for her son and his ambitions.