"Hard landing" kills skydiver at Florida airport for the second time in less than 2 years

A skydiver has died in an apparent parachuting accident Monday at a recreational airport in central Florida, police said, marking at least the second skydiving fatality at the airfield in less than two years.

The man "suffered a hard landing" before being pronounced dead at DeLand Municipal Airport, the DeLand Police Department said in a statement. Officers responded to the scene around 2:30 p.m. on Monday afternoon and are conducting an investigation into what caused the accident. Police said they would not identify the skydiver until his next of kin was notified.

This was not the first fatal skydive incident at DeLand Municipal Airport, which is owned by the city of DeLand and available for public use. Another skydiver was killed during a botched landing at the same airport in October 2022, falling to his death in an apparent accident caused by a malfunctioning parachute, DeLand police said at the time.