Update: Riverhead Police have released the identity of the skydiving instructor critically injured in yesterday’s fatal tandem jump. Christopher Scott, age 28, of Sound Beach remains in critical but stable condition at Stony Brook University Hospital, police said in a press release issued today.
Original story: The man killed in a skydiving accident at Skydive Long Island yesterday afternoon was a Medford man on a tandem jump the day before his 26th birthday.
His instructor was also critically injured when wind currents caused their parachute to collapse at more than 50 feet above the runway, according to a source close to the investigation.
The deceased man was identified by his father to The New York Times as Gary B. Messina. Messina was a New York City correction officer and the father of a 6-year-old boy, according to friends.
The man’s father, Carl Messina, told the Times he felt “empty” over the loss of his son.
“Nobody wants to bury their baby,” he said.
Carl Messina told the Times officials believed his son and the instructor were about 75 feet off the ground when “a whirlwind of dust caused their parachute to collapse,” according to the report.
Police investigators referred to the phenomenon as a “dust devil,” according to a source.
Skydive Long Island could not be reached for comment last night. Owner Ray Maynard made a statement to media at the scene yesterday, expressing regret over the accident.
Staff members at the skydiving company called Riverhead Police at 4:05 p.m. yesterday, reporting a person at that location with a severe head injury, according to radio reports. Management and crew at Skydive were requesting a MedEvac helicopter at the scene, the police dispatcher said.
Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps responded to the facility with first responders and two ambulance rigs. RVAC called for a MedEvac airlift and Manorville Fire Department was called to secure a landing zone for the police helicopter.
The Federal Aviation Administration was called to the scene and is investigating the cause of the crash.
This was the first skydiving fatality at the Calverton site, which has been in operation since 2000. According to the United States Parachute Association, there were 24 recorded skydiving fatalities in the U.S. last year in “roughly 3.2 million jumps.”
Skydiving mishaps in Calverton over the years have been few and far between.
Wind currents blew tandem jumpers into the tree tops on River Road in July 2012, stranding a woman on her first jump and her instructor in a tall pine tree for nearly an hour. The pair were safely rescued by Manorville Fire Department and were not injured in the mishap.
A solo jumper suffered a back injury when he “came down hard” on the Calverton runway in April 2011, according to police. There was no parachute malfunction in that incident, police said. The man injured in that incident was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital.
Maynard established Skydive Long Island at Spadaro Airport in 1986 and moved to Calverton in 2000, where the company operates out of a 23,000-square-foot hangar and uses the 10,000-foot runway there. Its instructors are fully licensed by the United States Parachute Association, according to the company’s website. Maynard was recognized at the Riverhead Chamber of Commerce as “Person of the Year” in 2012 for “his entrepreneurial spirit, compassion and commitment to a better Riverhead.” Skydive employs 50 people, according to the Chamber of Commerce press release announcing the award.
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