The body of a skydiving instructor who became separated from his student during a tandem jump has been found, according to Maine authorities.
Officials said 41-year-old Brett Bickford of Rochester, New Hampshire, and his student participated in a jump around 2pm Thursday near Skydive New England in Lebanon.
The student immediately alerted Maine State Police after safely landing, concerned that he was the only one with the parachute in the landing.
The body of skydiving instructor, Brett Bickford (pictured with a student two weeks ago), 41, who became separated from his student during a tandem jump has been found, according to Maine authorities
Officials said Bickford of Rochester, New Hampshire, and his student participated in a jump around 2pm Thursday near Skydive New England (pictured) in Lebanon
Cpl John MacDonald, the spokesman for the Maine Warden Service, said a search team found Bickford’s body shortly before 5.30pm, about 750 feet from the Lebanon Airport runway.
Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland said investigators determined the instructor and student became separated about a mile above the ground.
McCausland says the instructor didn’t have a backup parachute.
In a press statement, a Skydive New England spokesperson said the freefall was ‘uneventful’ and that the only incident was that the instructor went missing.
A massive search was launched by Maine game wardens, state police, and forestry officials who scoured the area for more than six hours before halting it around 8.30pm Thursday.
The search for Bickford resumed Friday morning with K-9 officers, drones with heat-sensing capabilities, Maine State Police and Maine Warden Service’s planes, and the Maine Forest Service’s helicopter.
The student immediately alerted Maine State Police after safely landing, concerned that he was the only one with the parachute in the landing. Bickford is pictured with a different student
Cpl John MacDonald, the spokesman for the Maine Warden Service, said a search team found Bickford’s (pictured with another student) body shortly before 5.30pm, about 750 feet from the Lebanon Airport runway
Both people use the same parachute in a tandem jump. Police aren’t sure how the skydivers became separated
According to News Center Maine, Skydive New England has experienced several incidents over the past couple of years with skydivers getting injured and one person dying in 2002.
A spokesperson clarified that the incidents are small in comparison to the 20,000 skydives the company completes a season.
Both people use the same parachute in a tandem jump.
Police aren’t sure how the skydivers became separated.