LEBANON, Maine — A man from Massachusetts was brought to a local hospital with serious injuries Monday after a hard landing while skydiving in Maine.
Manny Silva, 57, from Dartmouth, Massachusetts, was taken to Maine Medical Center, York County Sheriff William King said.
The sheriff said Silva was skydiving at Skydive New England on Monday and deputies responded after getting reports of an injured diver.
"Initial reports were that the male was semi-conscious with agonal breathing," the sheriff told NEWS CENTER Maine in a statement. "When deputies arrived, the male was conscious, alert and talking."
Skydive New England said Silva's parachute performed as expected during his decent.
"However, at an altitude of approximately 300 feet, the skydiver stopped actively flying the parachute for unknown reasons, leading to a hard landing," the skydiving center said.
Brad Fisher, the former 12-year owner of Vacationland Skydiving in Waterville said in a general sense, skydiving is safe.
"The gear is good," Fisher told NEWS CENTER Maine. "It’s well-engineered. It's very redundant. There's more than one backup in commercial gear. If you're trained or if you're jumping with somebody that is trained, it's fairly safe.”
According to Skydive New England, Silva skydived solo, but was experienced with 33 prior jumps.
Fisher said injuries from skydiving don't happen often and are typically a result of user error.
"There’s somewhere between 250 and 270 drop zones from small to big in the United States operating right now that are all doing first jumps every year," he said. "You don’t hear a lot of accidents happening with skydiving.”
Data by the United State Parachute Association (USPA) said in 2023, its members reported making 3.65 million skydives. In the same year, there were 10 civilian fatalities in the U.S.
Despite the odds, Fisher added there are risks to the sport.
"You’re jumping out of an airplane," he said. "We present a short video that is industry wide the details, the [risks]…"
The York County Sheriff's Office said Silva is expected to survive.