Jim Taylor

Captain Jim Taylor is a captain in the US Air force 16th Airborne Squadron. His plane,  USAF-01545, crashed in the Central Asian Highlands carrying a classified missile and he was subsequently captured and held prisoner in a suspended wooden cage near the crash site at the top of an isolated canyon cliff by the locals.

MacGyver was sent in to disarm the missile Jim had been carrying on his plane, but when he found that Jim was still alive his mission took on an unexpected second objective which ended with a jet thrusted tandem parachute jump.